A Spotlight On That Delinquent's Past
by Obliterwrite
Summary: Dust is an infamous adventurer in Axel who has seen the inside of a jail cell even more than some actual criminals. According to those around him, he is lazy, perverted and the very definition of trash. As for his past, no one knows, for Dust always looks to the future. But maybe that princess from a neighborhooding kingdom has something to reveal about him.
1. A visit from that princess

**A/N:** the following story contains significant spoilers for the LN and the Explosions and Dust spin-offs, read at your own risk.

I do not own Konosuba, any characters from the LN and spin-offs belong to Natsume Akatsuki.

* * *

**A Visit From That Princess**

Today I found myself sitting in the guild.

With me are my trustworthy companions, the kind and pretty mage Lynn, the reliable crusader Taylor, and the spot on accurate archer Keith.

I looked at our party's mage, who was eating a salad as usual.

"Say Lynn, you look well toda-"

"I won't lend you money."

Crap, shot down before I even got a sentence in.

Well surely the reliable crusader drinking a cup of Neroid would help me.

"Taylor"

"Nope"

This hard head….

Then the dependable archer...

"Don't look at me."

You too Keith? I didn't even say anything to you!

It's not like I really need money at the moment, but it's always good to spend other people's money.

"Damn these guys, when I strike it rich I definitely won't give a single eris to any of them!" I thought

"Someone like you would never strike it rich."

Huh? How did Taylor know what I was thinking?

"Yes, even the poor shopkeeper would get rich before Dust."

Keith too?!

"You really shouldn't speak your thoughts out loud." Lynn said

Huh? Did I really say what was on my mind?

Lynn, Keith and Taylor started talking among themselves, almost as if they were ignoring me.

"Hey why are you guys leaving me out?"

Lynn stopped whispering to the guys and said.

"This is important stuff regarding a quest, so we need our party at full power."

"Why are you leaving me out then?!"

"Like I said, we need our party at full power."

This girl…

"You are leaving me out? Aren't I the dependable leader of our wonderful party?"

Keith gave me a look of confusion.

"What are you talking about? We all agreed that Taylor was the leader."

Lynn nodded

"Yep, it's a good thing we have Taylor. If Dust was leading us we would likely have disbanded within the first week."

"Or we would have been wiped out within the first week." Keith added

"Or arrested."

"Or drowning in debt."

"Or- "

"Alright alright I get it! Stop going back and forth talking nonsense!"

"It doesn't seem like nonsense to me.."

Lynn crossed her arms and nodded

"Yeah, actually it sounds more like a bad ending we were lucky enough to avoid."

Well enough of Keith and Lynn's verbal assault, surely the man who has kept quiet all this time has a different opinion.

I looked at Taylor, who had been quietly sipping his neroid this whole time.

"You must have a different opinion of me, right Taylor-sama?"

Taylor didn't say anything.

"I see, it must be hard to speak when you have the unpopular opinion."

"No, I agree with them."

This guy.

"Screw it, forget that crap about trustworthy companions.

Lynn is a petty amateur mage with an equally pitiful chest.

Keith is a very average archer with zero luck with the ladies.

And Taylor is the most hard headed man i've ever met."

"Snipe!"

"Lightning!"

"Gahh!"

I barely had time to duck as a bolt of lighting and an arrow flew over my head and out an open window.

The only one who didn't lash out at me was Taylor, who now looked cross.

"Sorry for being so hard headed, but someone needs to balance out your delinquent behavior."

These guys, how did they know what I was thinking?

Or did I say everything out loud again?

Also, since when could Keith use his bow while sitting down at a table? Don't tell me he's been leveling up behind my back.

Suddenly I felt the presence of a beauty behind me.

"Please avoid fighting in the guild, you will be punished if you cause damage to the building."

It was the pretty guild receptionist, Luna.

With long flowing blonde hair and wonderfully sized twin peaks, she was a real beauty, unlike a certain mage.

"Yeah, you guys really need to control yourself, stop giving Luna-san so much trouble."

Both Lynn and Keith glared at me, but they bowed in apology too Luna.

"We're sorry."x2

"That's right, you should be sorry, how could you attack the great me without any concern for the guild?"

"What do you mean? We specifically chose to sit here out of concern for the guild, this way any attacks aimed at Dust would fly out the window if it missed." Lynn pointed towards the open window.

Wait is that why I'm always seated next to the window?

"Yeah, besides using Snipe while sitting down like this isn't ideal. I can't pull the bowstring back far enough to cause any real damage."

So Keith didn't get stronger, I knew it.

"Oh, well if that's the case then carry on." Luna said with a smile, a truly terrifying smile.

Wait hold on a second, she was going to let them attack me?

"Wait! What about the guild! They'll damage the guild if this keeps up! Luna-san come back! Lynn stop chanting! Keith drop your bow!"

"You kinda asked for this Dust."

"Taylor, you shut up!"

Dammit I don't have enough arms to deal with all four of them at once.

Who can I turn too here?

I looked towards the corner of the guild, the part known as the territory of the crimson loner.

There sat a powerful and well endowed, but lonely archmage, her red eyes and black hair told the world that she was a crimson demon clansmen.

"Yunyun! Aren't we friends? Come give me a hand!"

Upon hearing my voice, Yunyun stopped playing chess by herself…..

….and bolted out of the guild.

Dammit, see if I ever invite you to eat dinner on your money again.

"Lightning!"

Another bolt of lighting skimmed my head and flew out the window.

"Now now guys, aren't we a party? Lets just all calm down and agree that nobody is perfect."

"I hate to admit it, but he has a point, we still have to discuss the details of our next quest."

Lynn and Keith immediately calmed down

Thank you Taylor!

He really is the leader of our party! Wait why are they all whispering among themselves again?

"Hey don't leave me out! Let me hear what you are saying!"

Lynn raised her voice

"You are right! If we leave Dust out of this quest, we'll have a larger share of the reward!"

Keith followed, raising his voice as well.

"Yeah! Knowing Dust, he'll spend all his reward money in the blink of an eye, so it's better to keep him away!"

These two….

When i'm rich I'll be giving them the cold shoulder everyday.

Ignoring my untrustworthy party, I scanned the guild for someone more trustworthy.

Sadly Yunyun had already left, also Kazuma's party was nowhere to be found.

There was nobody who could buy me a drink.

I sighed loudly and leaned back in my seat.

Adventurers of all sorts were going around the guild, searching for party members or quests, or just drinking and chatting.

It must be nice to have a party that actually cared about you…

Oh? That woman looks new around here.

I had spotted a woman I hadn't seen before speaking with Luna at the counter, she was dressed like an adventurer, wearing robes that made her look like a mage or priest.

I couldn't see her face from here, but she looked pretty good from behind.

Though there were also two others following her one was probably a man wearing armor, the other was a woman in a mage outfit.

If she was alone I could probably have sponged a few coins out of her, but I wasn't about to take on a whole party.

Besides, that whole party had blonde hair, they were probably all nobles.

The lead girl's hair was done in a ponytail as well.

That hairstyle and colour sort of reminded me of Darkness, Kazuma's perverted crusader.

I couldn't be her right? Darkness always wore that fancy armor around, she wouldn't start wearing robes, that would worsen her defense. Plus if she wasn't wearing any metal she'd get mauled by monsters and swallowed by giant toads.

Wait wouldn't she enjoy that?

Maybe it really was Darkness wearing a different outfit…

Actually nevermind, if it was Darkness i'd be able to see her breasts from this angle.

This woman wasn't as busty as Darkness, oh well.

Wait a sec, but she has blonde hair, could she be a noble? She seemed to be looking for someone….

Did the First Princess Iris sneak out of the capital again?

If that was the case, maybe I could make some money off them.

After all, that blonde haired girl did not match Claire or Rain's figures, so she won't know me or my reputation.

I should try and hear what they are saying.

I focused as hard as I could to listen in.

What a pain, if only I had Kazuma's lip reading skill.

Well since most adventurers had left on their quests by now and my party was busy whispering to themselves, I was able to listen in on the conversation between Luna and the blonde ponytail girl.

"I'm sorry, but there is no adventurer registered under the name of Rein Chelka, nor anyone with the dragon knight class."

Wait what?

What did Luna just say?

"Well what about blonde haired adventurers? Is there a male with blonde hair and red eyes working as an adventurer here?"

Don't tell me that blonde girl is...

"You know, seeing you stare at women like that really makes you look like a criminal."

Huh? Lynn?

I turned and saw that Lynn and the others had finished their little group whisper.

"What is that supposed to mean? Whatever, you guys don't need me for your quest right? I'll just head off then."

I was about to run off, but Lynn grabbed my arm.

"What did you fall for me?" I began, but then I saw Luna point this way. "Well sorry but I'm not feeling too good, yeah my stomach hurts so i'm heading back to the inn."

"Who in their right mind would fall for you?! And how could your stomach hurt? You haven't eaten anything."

"Well who knows, maybe my stomach is digesting itself."

"That is ridiculous, what did you do this time? Does it have something to do with that noble lady heading this way?"

Crap she caught on.

Why does Lynn have to be so sharp in times like this.

"Let go of me Lynn, I promise I'll pay back what I owe you."

"Yeah sure."

Don't just say that sarcastically! Let go of my arm!

"It's been a while Rein-kun! I'm so happy to see you."

Gahh! Too late!

I turned around, confirming my suspicions.

It was her, the girl who's face looked far too similar to Lynn's.

I recognised the two others with her too.

Why are they here?

Stop ruining my delinquent reputation I worked so hard to get.

"Who are you?" I asked.

The woman stumbled back in shock

"Ehhhh?! Don't you remember me Rein? I came all the way here to meet you!"

For Eris' sake why do you keep saying that name!

Do you have any idea how much effort it's going to take to throw off Lynn and the others again?

"Why do you keep calling me Rein? Look I'm a busy adventurer, unless you are here to lend me money, get lost."

I didn't want to say that to her of all people, but I really needed to get her away from my party.

"What are you saying Dust? You really are shameless aren't you?" Lynn said, still refusing to let go of my arm.

"Umm, I think you've confused someone else for Dust" Keith jumped in

Shut up Keith

"No, there is no mistake, he is Rein-kun, the kindest, most gentlemanly knight I had ever met."

Hearing this, Keith stared wide eyed and open mouthed.

Well she did call me "gentlemanly" and "kind" such words are the opposite of me now.

Also, stop eying me so suspiciously Lynn.

There was a time where I was ready to tell you everything but you fell asleep, I'm not telling you a thing now.

Actually if it's her she might have figured it out already.

Lynn is pretty sharp after all.

"She's talking to you, Rein-kun." Lynn said mockingly

Don't call me that!

"I have no idea who this Rein guy is, I'm Dust, a famous adventurer around here."

"You mean infamous."

Quit running your mouth Lynn.

"Well anyways, I don't like dealing with nobles, unless you are here to loan me money then leave, I have stuff to do."

Come on! Take the hint and leave! I'll make things up to you later!

"You don't like nobles?… Ahh right money."

No I want you to leave! Not open your purse to me.

"I owe you quite a bit! Forget loaning think of this as me paying you back. In fact, let me become your guarantor."

"Pfft, _cough_" Apparently what she had just said was so shocking, it made Taylor of all people spit out his drink.

Well it was the first time someone else had ever said they owed me money.

And Lynn still wouldn't let go of me.

"Hold on a second here, you shouldn't be giving money to Dust, this thing has as much debt as a city."

Do I? I mean sure I might owe some people a little bit of money.

"Oh? He does? I'll pay it off then, how much do you need?"

"I don't need anything."

I just need Lynn to let go of me!

I yanked my hand as hard as I could, then I left the guild as fast as I could.

"Hey wait! Rein-kunnnnn!"

I hope I'm not making a mistake here.

But I really don't want Lynn and the others finding out about my past.

I don't want to go through a life of responsibility, let me laze around and sponge off of other people in peace.

Please don't hate me for this, princess.

* * *

Well I couldn't go back to the guild anytime soon, not when she's there.

I wandered around aimlessly until I noticed a familiar sign.

Oh I see, I unknowingly wandered to the succubus store.

I have the money and the prices at that store are cheap, maybe I should...

Nah, not today.

Besides she might be following me around.

Her or Lynn, since Lynn is definitely suspicious of me now.

Well then, where else can I go?

"Welcome! Delinquent who lives by a fake name!"

"Don't say that out loud sir!"

I decided to visit sir Vanir's shop.

Well actually I wanted to see the well endowed shopkeeper but she was nowhere to be found.

Standing in her place was the Duke of Hell, rumored to be even stronger than the demon king himself.

Although the pink apron he wore while working in this shop made him look much less intimidating.

What was the all powerful future seeing devil doing? working in a place like this?

Also where did the beautiful shopkeeper go?

Actually I think I know what happened.

"Umm, is Wiz.."

"The broke shopkeep is extra crispy today, after being roasted with moi murder ray!"

Ahh I see.

Wait, that means sir is going to try and sell me something useless.

I need to get out of here.

"Now hold on, delinquent who is worried that I might sell him something useless."

Sir's foresight ability is really troublesome at times.

"Moi can smell the scent of money on you today."

In other words he used his foresight to peek into my wallet.

"May I recommend a few wares, for example this potion that makes you bald but raises your level, or this potion that makes your hair grow but lowers your level along with your base stats."

Someone would have to be very desperate to buy those.

Also why is there a fine print that says "benefits may be canceled out by other potions?"

"If potions do not interest you, then what about this?"

Sir held a piece of paper.

Why would I want that?

"This is a contract that guarantees that moi will not reveal thy identity to anyone in this town."

"How much?" I instantly replied.

With that woman visiting this town, there is a good chance that someone would ask Vanir to confirm her story of me.

"Only 51,387 eris! A real bargain!"

"Hey! Don't charge me for exactly how much I have at the moment!'

I had 50,000 eris from my last quest and 1,387 eris I managed to strong arm from a few other delinquents.

"Ahh, but a contract with a devil is absolute, thus the price is actually quite cheap! Perhaps I should raise it.."

"Ahh wait no, I'll buy it right now for 51,387 eris!"

"Thank you for your patronage!"

Sir Vanir smiled as he took all my money.

This thing really was a devil.

Well at least now I had signed a contract that kept my identity safe.

Actually, knowing sir there would probably be a loophole somewhere.

Dammit! Why did I come here? I won't be able to sleep at night thinking about this contract.

"As thanks for your continued patronage, I would like to offer you a bit of fortune telling! Oh what's this? I see a person with many negative emotions in your future, a shame I cannot come with you and taste it for myself, thy should beware, this person will end up endangering all those you love and care about!"

Sir stopped.

"Wait don't just stop there! Tell me who is this guy?"

"The free foresight has ended, if you would like more, you would have to pay a fee."

"But you just took every last eris I had! How can I possibly pay you now?"

"Perhaps your party members would loan you some, ahh but things are complicated so you are avoiding them for the time being yes? Ohho! Your negative emotions are wonderful!"

I was about to give Sir a piece of my mind when a bell rang, signaling the arrival of a new customer.

"Good morning! Die!" came the cheerful of a self proclaimed goddess.

"Moi refuses, besides it's already afternoon."

Kazuma's party priest showed up and immediately fired high level purification magic at Sir Vanir, who easily managed to step out of the way.

"Say, where's Wiz?" Aqua asked, acting as if she didn't just try to kill Sir Vanir.

"The failure of a shopkeep is out at the moment, please go loiter somewhere else you goddess of debt."

"Oi what did you call me? First Kazuma and now you? Fine then, I was being merciful with that last shot, this time I shall purify all your lives in one go!"

"Try it if you dare! you goddess of violence! after moi hath beaten you black and blue, moi shall pocket every coin you have as compensation for disturbing moi business."

"Scared Highness Exorcism!"

"Shred!"

Did sir just call Aqua a goddess?

Meh I don't care, it's not wise to get caught up in a battle between an Axis cultist and a Duke of Hell.

Well only thing to do now is sulk and leave the store.

"Please come again!" sir called out to me as I left.

Well I guess I could come back, but only when Wiz was here.

As I walked away from the I heard both Sir Vanir and Aqua exchange attacks

"Vanir style death ray!"

"Reflect!"

Yep I should definitely get out of here.

I doubled my pace.

* * *

I kept wandering around town aimlessly, hoping to avoid that girl.

Not that I dislike her, despite her somewhat selfish personality.

It was that selfish side of her that brought us together in the first place.

It was also the reason I was exiled.

Oh well, the past doesn't matter.

Right now I need money, maybe I could find a thug or two to mug.

Nobody would blame me for robbing a thug.

As I thought about this, I noticed a few familiar faces in the distance.

Oh no, it was her again.

Time to turn around.

She didn't see me right?

I hope she didn't

This place was too close to the guild, maybe if I was in another part of town it would be fine to speak to her.

I'm the only blonde haired male adventurer in this town, so anyone passing by would know who I am.

I should get further away from the guild and avoid the places I normally wander around.

Making myself appear lazy as usual, I casually walked down the street with my hands behind my head, whistling a merry tune and yawning every now and then.

Honestly it felt like someone was watching me.

Seriously who was staring at me?

It was probably Yunyun, it has to be, she was probably too shy to come and speak to me.

Well then, I should help her level up her social skills.

I ignored the person staring at me and continued to a more secluded part of town.

There we go, now there is barely anyone around, so it would be fine if she found me here.

Also I still felt that stare.

Someone was getting closer.

"Good job Yunyun! you had the courage to come up and speak to me for once."

I felt something poke my cheek.

"Please stop hanging out with Yunyun."

I turned around in surprise.

It wasn't Yunyun, it was the crazy explosion girl, who was poking me with her staff.

Why wasn't Kazuma properly taking care of this problem child?

"What do you want? Are you here to lend me money?"

"Lending you money would be the same as tossing it away."

Normally i'd respond with "are you picking a fight?"

But this girl actually has some pretty high stats so I should keep quiet.

"Then what do you want? I'm very busy at the moment."

"Looks to me like you are just wandering around aimlessly."

"Aren't you doing the same? If you are looking for someone to carry you back from your explosion routine go ask Kazuma."

"I have already done today's routine with Aqua. Besides Kazuma locked himself in his room with freeze magic and Darkness won't let me blow away the door."

Ahh that's right, I did hear the usual explosion at noon today.

Lucky Kazuma, being able to freeze himself in his room on this hot summer day.

Good thing that was done and over with, otherwise she would have definitely freaked out.

"What about those strange nobles going around town asking about you?"

So that's why she was following me.

"Oh that's nothing, they've probably just mistaken me for someone else."

"Really? Because they are looking for a blond man who fights with a sword, but is accustomed to a spear."

"Well then, it can't be me."

"I'm not so sure, after all you seem pretty adept at spear fighting."

Huh? When did she?

Oh wait, I used a spear in front of a few people now, namely Loli Succubus, Lynn and Yunyun.

Yunyun probably blabbed about me to her.

"Well then, maybe it's because I frequently use the spear in my pants. OW."

"What are you saying to a pure maiden like me!?"

Pure maiden? Oh please, that's only because explosions are the only thing in your mind.

Still that hurt quite a lot.

"I've actually been meaning to ask you this for quite some time now. But what happened during that time when the former dragon knight escaped with the princess of another kingdom?"

"How would I know?"

"I saw you using a spear, it was around the time when my thieving group was following the rumor of the dragon knight being in Axel."

Why is an Archwizard part of a thieving group? Explosion is the loudest spell there is, she'd be the least competent thief ever.

And why did a thieving group need a dragon knight?

I remember that time though, I was filled with nostalgia after Alice, no Princess Iris asked me about being a spearman.

Also I was hungry, so I offered some tips to a newbie adventurer with the Lancer class to get a free meal out of him.

Maybe I shouldn't have done that.

"So I want to ask you, what happened during that week with the princess."

Seriously, what is with everyone and their interest in that boring story.

It really isn't anything special, knight and princess fall in love and are divided by societal status.

A very generic fairy tale if you ask me.

Besides that was not at all what happened, that story was probably something she made up to make me look better.

Or maybe something that trash of a king made up to gossip about with other members of royalty.

Urgh, just thinking about that king made me pissed.

I want to complain, I really do.

Maybe I should, after all Megumin wouldn't spread the word would she?

"Why are you so interested in that boring story?"

"I'm not, rather I'm just interested as to why a former dragon knight is so busy running from a group of foreign nobles."

Oh come on! I wanted to retell the story and complain about my past for once!

Why did you have to be so uninterested.

Whatever, you wanted to talk to me so i'm going to complain.

"First off, that story you heard is fake, it's not at all what happened."

"You didn't kidnap the princess?"

"Of course not, who would do such a thing. It was all her idea, she ordered me to give her a ride even though I knew the kingdom would go into panic, but no she tells me everything is going to be fine. Then I hear that the kingdom started hunting me down so I decide to return her as quick as possible, she even told the king it was her idea yet I still got punished. See, nobles are all trashy individuals no matter what country they are from."

Surprisingly the explosion girl agreed.

"Yeah I agree, after all we have people like Darkness who is in heat all year round and that fat landlord Alderp."

Wow, sometimes I really see eye to eye with this girl, there was even a time when she understood eating bugs, fruit peels and ice.

I had more example of trashy nobles in mind

"Not to mention the white suit-chan who is head over heels for the first princess and the nobleman who turned out to have a thing for me, eurghhhhh"

That last one was the worst, I thought he was after Lynn at first, but it turns out he was using Lynn to get closer to me.

Thinking about that makes me shudder

I wonder where he went after that, I hope he isn't still in Axel.

I may as well answer Megumin's initial question now

"So anyways yeah we hugged, we kissed and rode around on a flame dragon that's about it."

"Hehehe."

"?"

What was with that laugh

Was she planning something?

Actually there was nothing she could do after her mana was exhausted right?

She flicked her cape and did pose.

"Well well, now that I know your greatest secret! You must promise to keep your negative influence away from Kazuma and Yunyun if you don't want it slipping out! Former dragon knight!"

Oh right! She was really protective of Yunyun, so naturally she wouldn't want me hanging around her.

She also didn't like me hanging out with Kazuma, jeez what was she? His wife or something?

She probably planned to blackmail me from the start, her intelligence stat really isn't just for show.

But I didn't spend all that time being a delinquent for nothing. It wouldn't matter if Megumin talked about me, nobody would believe her.

I wasn't worried at all, I just snickered

"Go on then, tell everyone, see if they believe you."

"Huh?!"

For some reason Megumin seemed surprised

"What? Did I say something strange?"

"Yes you did, you just got very out of character for a second! What was that whole "See if they believe you" line? You said it looking so calm and cool too."

Oh did it tug at her crimson demon heartstrings?

Yeah I did go out of character didn't I? Guess I was too caught up in the past.

"Have you fallen for me? Too bad, I prefer someone with larger breasts- Hey stop! Stop that! You already used explosion today right?! Stop chanting!?"

I waved my hands in panic as the crazy girl begun her incantation for the explosion spell.

She stopped

I knew she was out of mana after all, but still that was terrifying.

Megumin flicked her cape.

"If I hadn't used my explosion earlier you would become a crater right now, dragon knight or not, don't think you can get off with harassing the number 1 archmage of the Crimson Demons!"

"Ahh yes I get it, i'm sorry."

I immediately lowered my head in apology.

I really should avoid pissing her off.

"Besides there is no way I'd fall for you, I'm already with Kazuma and I'm not the unfaithful type."

Wait what?

"Hey what did you just say? You just said something unbelievable right?"

"What? Kazuma and I live under the same roof, it wouldn't be a surprise if something happened."

When did this happen?

I mean sure Kazuma had three beauties in his party, but they were all shot in the head I can't believe he really fell for one!

This can't be true, well I guess Kazuma was a bit of a lolicon but to think he'd do the explosion girl.

Did he do her?

"Hold on, just to be sure, you are just referring to the bond you have with Kazuma as adventurers right? Nothing has happened between the two of you."

"Well not yet, I mean we have bathed together and slept in the same bed several times."

"Wha-what!?"

Kazuma did say things were going well between him and Megumin-san, but not this well!

Megumin made a blushy face, bringing her hands to her cheeks.

"We have come so far that I am okay with him carrying me and undressing me if I fall asleep before reaching my bed."

Damn that guy, why does he get all the luck?!

"If we get the chance we may as well go all the way."

Gahhh! I can't take this! Why does Kazuma have so much success with the ladies!

I want to ask for details! I want to know what Kazuma and Megumin do at night! But if I do Megumin will get pissed.

Megumin looked at me with a puzzled expression, no she acted puzzled but I could see that she was hiding a smug looking grin.

"Why do you look so shocked? It's only natural to have such a relationship at this age. Besides don't you also have a girlfriend searching for you at this moment?"

"T-that's"

I never made it that far with her!

I mean I don't have any problems with her figure, she isn't as big as Luna or Darkness but she's still fine.

It's just that she was a bit selfish back then, yeah that's it, not too much of a deal breaker.

Besides she even offered to become my guarantor earlier, that means she's changed right?

For the first time ever, I started wishing I wasn't exiled from that kingdom.

"W-well my past is too complicated to explain, so I'm just going to leave before those guys find me."

I left in a hurry.

Actually why did I leave?

It's not like i'm jealous of Kazuma or anything.

If I was i'd be looking for the girl from my past.

Which I wasn't doing right now.

I was definitely still avoiding them.

I slowed down, going back into a casual walk.

* * *

I had travelled to an area that I didn't visit often, after all there was no trouble here.

Nobody to solicit and thus no reason to be here.

It was just a peaceful lake, with a small bridge going over it, leading into a quiet neighborhood.

Peaceful huh.

With all that happened today I wouldn't mind a bit of peace.

"Sigh"

I sighed loudly as I leaned on the side of the bridge.

What a day, forget my companions being so untrustworthy, why did she of all people have to show up?

I'm perfectly fine with my life in Axel, I don't need some selfish princess to show up and drag me back into the affairs of nobility.

Huh, it almost sounds like I hate her, I don't though, I just think her personality needs some improvement.

Truth be told, I was glad to see her again.

It reminded me a lot of my past life.

Back when my name wasn't Dust, but Rein.

Rein of the Chelka family….

My family wasn't noble by birth, we bought into it, basically we were an upstart noble family.

That's why I didn't have the blue eyes and blonde hair that all normal nobles had.

Well my hair was naturally blonde, but my eyes were red.

It's a good thing that dragon knight story told the tale of a blue eyed youth, otherwise I'd definitely have much more people suspecting me.

I did have a way with dragons, not that I wanted to become a dragon knight, I just didn't want my talent to go to waste.

Since I happened to be the same age as the princess, the king made me her personal bodyguard.

Well that was what I thought at first, it was actually the princess herself who asked for me because she liked the idea of a dragon knight of the same age as her being her personal bodyguard.

And because she admired me.

That girl did whatever she wanted and didn't take no for an answer.

Not that i'm complaining.

It wasn't until much much later, when she revealed her crush on me, that I realized I had somehow fallen for her as well….

Probably because I was ambitious back then, I did all that I could to become the perfect knight and fulfill my duties.

Since my duties included watching over the princess, I spent a lot of time with her, I guess that time was enough to make me fall for her.

Then there was that night, the night when she told me she couldn't stand life at the castle anymore.

She was a princess who always got what she wanted, yet was still weighed down with responsibilities.

She wanted to fly free in the sky, so she ordered that I elope with her.

I guess she didn't know that the disappearance of a princess would put the nation into panic.

Even though I brought her back, even though she told the king it was her idea, the king still made a big show about banishing me from the kingdom and removing my family's noble status.

That old fart probably wanted us to be an example.

It pisses me off just thinking about it.

"H-hey Rein, no your name is Dust now right? Do you want me to call you Dust-kun?"

Oh great, she's here.

How did she find me?

"Thank you for your help young archmage-san"

"No problem, helping the lady of a noble family is part of my duty as an adventurer."

I saw the knight accompanying the princess hand a bag of cash to Megumin, who was behind them.

That girl, I can't believe she sold me out that quick!

Did I mean nothing to her?! Actually don't answer that….

I watched as the girl from my past took my hand.

"Rei-Dust-kun, please don't run away again."

"I don't mind you calling me Rein here."

There was nobody around here that knew me well enough.

This was the more secure area of Axel, where police patrols were more common due to the number of families with children.

And we were standing on a stone bridge with nobody else nearby.

"Rein-kun, I-I want to say I'm sorry."

"?!"

Was it just me, or was her personality different from before?

"So please don't run away again! I know you have every reason to hate me and I don't blame you. But i've changed, I really have, I don't want to be the same princess who got you banished!"

She looked genuinely sad.

I hadn't seen that expression ever since she ordered me to elope with her.

"because-"

There were tears in the corners of her eyes.

I could also feel her pressing my hand against her chest.

It was a nice feel, but that wasn't what I'm focused on this time.

"Despite everything-"

Her face was getting closer, her blue eyes locked on to mine.

"I love you, whether you are Rein or Dust."

This…

It felt so refreshing.

Maybe noble life wouldn't be so bad.

How could I even consider that?

This doesn't change my mind about nobles, they are still all trash, selfish people acting only according to their own desires.

Yet she was here apologizing to me.

If this hadn't yet changed my mind, maybe it should.

Because…

"All this time I didn't mind your bad self. But to hear you say all that for a change, it really brings me joy."

Oh great i'm completely out of character now.

Ehh whatever, it's not like anyone can see me.

It's true, I didn't mind her selfish behavior, but deep down I really did want her too apologize.

"Soooo…. You aren't mad at me anymore?" she looked at me with upturned eyes.

Looks like there was a bit of a misunderstanding.

"I was never mad at you, I just didn't want to reveal my past to my party members. Sorry about brushing you off earlier."

She smiled

A sweet gentle smile.

Suddenly she lept onto me and gave me a kiss.

I wanted to yell that I was about to fall off the bridge, but my mouth was sealed shut by her lips.

Well this wasn't too bad.

I could feel her entire body pressed up against mine.

Maybe we could end up like Kazuma and Megumin now.

Or we could go even further beyond, hehe.

I noticed that the two that were accompanying her had turned around to give us a semblance of privacy.

How considerate of them.

I don't know how long it had been before she finally let go of me.

I guess she really did miss me that much.

I looked at her.

The girl from my past.

The one who's face looked all to similar to Lynn's.

I hadn't realized it before but I guess I really did want to see her again.

The mage accompanying her tapped her shoulder.

"It's getting late, we really should get going."

"Ahh right."

Was she leaving already?

"Are you leaving already?"

"No, not yet, we are checking into an inn tonight, so I'll see you again tomorrow Rein-kun."

Well then I guess I should get going too.

Tomorrow I'd have to meet up with my party and see how much damage was done to my reputation.

At least I'd get to see her again.

I executed a perfect bow to the knight and mage accompanying her.

"Zorn, Amelda, thank you for looking after the princess during my exile."

The knight bowed "Just doing my duty."

While the mage laughed "Well someone had to pick up where you left off."

I knew those two from before.

They were both nobles and both older than me, yet I was the one assigned the their current position in the past.

Zorn was a strong and upstanding knight and Amelda was a smart and talented mage, as expected of nobles.

And the one they had to protect was the woman I loved.

I admit there were times where I thought I wouldn't see her again and tried to find a new girlfriend.

But who can blame a man for wanting a harem?

I kneeled and kiss the princess' hand

"I'll see you tomorrow, princess Liana."

It's been a while since I acted like that.

Now how was I going to throw off Lynn, Taylor and Keith?

* * *

**A/N:** I wanted to try writing in the style of Konosuba: using a single character's point of view and almost never changing it, so I wrote this. I intended for this to be a one shot, but after finishing this chapter I realized it was pretty fun to write this way, so I might end up adding to this story. For now this is going to be listed as an unfinished story.


	2. A Request From a Neighborhooding Kingdom

**A/N**: I actually had a lot of fun writing in Konosuba's style (or at least trying to) so I decided to make up a plot and keep this story going for a few chapters. I might not get Dust's character perfect so expect a bit of him getting out of character, I also know nothing of japanese, but i'm using their honorifics to suit the Konosuba style, I might make some mistakes there.

* * *

**A request from that Neighbourhooding Nation**

Ahh another fine day.

I strolled out into the morning….errr…. noon sunlight whistling a merry tune

"Why are you so happy? If you keep this up we'll definitely hold you for longer next time!" came the annoying voice of a prison guard.

I had ran out of money after buying that contract from sir Vanir, so I went and harassed some passing women so that I could have a place to sleep for the night.

Honestly once you get used to it, staying in the cells weren't that bad compared to sleeping in the stables, plus it costs less too.

"Hey? Are you listening to me? Next time we won't be so forgiving, so hurry up and change your ways!"

The guard was still complaining.

Yeah yeah I get it, i'm a criminal, blah blah blah. It's not like I have a choice, being arrested is better than freezing to death in the stables.

Oh well, I was let out already so I didn't have to stay and put up with this guard for any longer.

As I casually walked down the street, I wondered what I should do for the day.

Maybe the other delinquents had something planned for today, I could join them and get a share of whatever profits they reap.

Or I could wait until they've done whatever they've planned then beat them up and take all the rewards.

Nah, I doubt any of them are planning anything at this time of day.

I could go to the guild, but if I do I'd probably get pushed into some troublesome quest by Luna or Lynn.

Maybe I can get a meal out of that loner Yunyun, or maybe a drink, maybe both.

As I wandered around I saw a familiar face.

When did Lynn dye her hair blonde and grow her breasts?

Oh wait that isn't Lynn, right she was staying in this town.

Why did she come to visit me so suddenly? Don't tell me she's taken over her kingdom and wants to bring me back into nobility, that is far too troublesome.

Even though nobles and deliquinents were similar, maybe I should put my deliquinent side away for a while?

As long as nobody sees me it should be fine, I don't want my party to start expecting anything from me.

Oh, looks like she's noticed me.

"Rein-kun! Oh wait... Dust-kun!"

She quickly corrected herself after calling me Rein again, even though yesterday I told her I didn't mind.

"I told you I don't mind you calling me Rein." I reminded her.

"Well I thought that while we are in Axel we shouldn't be using our real names, it may attract unwanted attention."

Yeah maybe if it was you, a princess like you using your real name would definitely attract attention, but calling me Rein won't.

But calling me Dust right after calling me Rein would probably get some raised eyebrows.

"If you aren't used to calling me Dust then don't bother. Just make sure you don't call me Rein near someone I know."

"Why? Shouldn't they be surprised to find out that the Dust they knew was actually the legendary dragon knight, Rein Chelka?"

"No, rather they wouldn't believe you and think you've gone crazy."

"That's awful! What happened to your reputation?"

"Your father took it away remember? I'm just your average adventurer now."

Perhaps seeing me had made her forget about the past, but the princess looked shocked for a moment.

Then she bowed in apology.

"I'm sorry for my father's arrogance. But really it was my fault to begin with."

Are you really that same princess?

Also stop doing that, a princess shouldn't be lowering her head to someone like me.

"Hey look at that, Dust is soliciting women again."

It seems that our conversation has attracted some adventurers.

One of them laid a hand on the princess' shoulder.

"You really shouldn't listen to what this guy says, he's the kind who'd fall in love with anything that has a pair of breasts."

He had a few others behind him as well.

"Yes that thing is known for causing no end of trouble wherever he goes, just ask his guardian Lynn."

Since when was Lynn my guardian?

"He's probably asking you for money right? If you give him any money he'll just laze around until it's all gone and never pay you back."

Oh shut up, anyone would laze around if they had money, just look at when we took down the Kowloon Hydra, all of you got a large reward and started lazing about.

These guys were really getting on my nerves.

"Hey why don't you white knights go rescue some princess trapped in a castle or something?"

"What's wrong with being a white knight?"

"Yeah besides my job happens to be "white knight" so deal with it."

"If you want us to leave then first pay back what you owe me."

Who do these three nobodies think they are? Showing up out of nowhere and acting like they are in the right?

"Oh! Does Re- Dust-kun owe you money too?"

Seriously you are a princess, what happened to your selfish side? Don't open your purse to these random peasants.

I should do something to get in the way.

I stepped up and looked the main guy in the eye.

However before I was about to speak he shoved me away.

Alright that's it, if that's how it's going to be….

"..."

"... Well I can't say i'm surprised to see you here again."

"Really? Well them I hope you have a meal ready."

That little incident ended up escalating into an all out brawl, now I was back in the cells for starting a fight in public.

The princess' retainers: Zorn and Amelda were actually going to get involved and break up the fight, but I told them that this was normal around here.

Hopefully that will keep them from making a scene in Axel.

While I was being carried off to the station, the princess was muttering something about "Rein-kun is going to become a criminal…" well she's not completely wrong, I was already a criminal ever since I took her out on that ride.

Oh wait, don't tell me….. she's going to leave because she can't afford to be seen with a criminal...

"Hey generic guard, can you let me out a bit earlier? There is a certain lady I need to meet."

"What lady in the world world would want to meet you? And who are you calling generic? I have the longest hair out of all the guys in Axel's police force and I can throw daggers with great skill!"

Nobody cares about your hair or your throwing skill, just let me out!

"If you let me out now you can have my meal."

"I already had a meal, also there is no way I'd eat food meant for prisoners."

What was that supposed to mean?

"Why wouldn't you? You aren't putting poison in my meals are you?"

"As tempting as that idea sounds, there is no way I'd do such a thing."

"You just admitted that you want to do it! I don't feel safe with you here anymore! If you don't let me out then I demand for a different guard! Preferably a busty female one."

Yeah, having a pretty female guard watch over me would make this much better.

"What kind of nonsense are you saying? There is no chance that I'll go anywhere until my shift is done and no chance that you will be released early!"

Suddenly the door burst open as another police officer made his way towards the cells

"As unbelievable as it may sound, we are releasing you early this time."

Huh? Why?

Oh who cares about the details, I'm free and the guard I was arguing with now had a face of both shock and anger.

I might not feed off negative emotions like sir Vanir, but seeing that expression was really satisfying.

As I was escorted out of the cells by the police, I found the princess' two escorts waiting for me outside.

The knight Zorn and the mage Amelda.

Zorn was speaking with a female officer, I think her name was Aloerina? She was a mature beauty with long brown hair that she wore in a ponytail. It seems like she had taken a liking to Zorn and the two were chatting about various topics…..

Actually it looked more like Zorn was trying to brush her off.

Amelda was not occupied and appeared to be waiting for me, she thanked the police officer, who gave a crisp salute in return.

I guess the princess wanted to save face and sent these two to bail me out, showing up at a prison to bail out a prisoner was probably not good for her image.

"Rein, I don't know what is considered normal in Belzerg, but please refrain from getting arrested, bailing you out of a foreign prison is not easy, nor is it good for the princess' image."

Amelda basically confirmed my suspicions.

I knew it, I know her very well after all.

"Why are you smiling? Did you hear what I said Rein?"

"Oh yes, of course I'll refrain from getting arrested for now."

"Good. Wait what do you mean "for now" are you a criminal in Axel?"

"Nope, I'm just a very underappreciated adventurer with the warrior class." I said, resting my hand on the hilt of my sword

"It's great that you are using the sword that her highness granted you, but for her sake please do not become a deliquinent or a criminal."

A bit too late for that.

Besides what was wrong with being a criminal? Criminals and nobles both commit crimes and engage in questionable affairs, criminals are basically non entitled nobles.

And why are you lecturing me here Amelda? Are you going to replace Lynn's oh so important role of nagging me each day?

"Umm hey, Rein, Amelda, can we get going please?" Zorn said anxiously

It would seem like he wanted to get away from here quickly.

Behind him was the female knight he was talking to earlier.

"Wait, I seriously don't mind moving to Gaudveil with you."

"Yes that's great, but sorry. Umm, my duty as princess Liana's guard really doesn't give me a lot of time for romance."

"That's fine! I don't mind as long as you can come home and say "I love you" everyday."

"A tempting offer but I must decline, Amelda and I should really get going. Hmm?"

I don't know what Zorn had gotten himself into, neither did Amelda, but we both silently agreed that he should deal with it alone.

So we left without him.

I could hear him shout behind our back as we exited the police station.

"Ahh! Amelda! Rein! Wait for me! Thank you for your time Aloerina-san but I must get going."

"Wait! Zorn-dono!"

Zorn quickly abandoned the female knight and caught up with us.

"Having fun with the locals Zorn-dono?" I asked mockingly

"Please don't call me that Rein. ughhhh the willpower of a woman nearing the unwanted age is scary… As soon as I mentioned being a high ranking noble of Gaudveil she suddenly started telling me all kinds of things about herself and- hey are you even listening?"

Nope, why do you think I covered my ears?

"You reap what you sow…. Zorn-dono." Amelda took her jab at Zorn as well.

"Et tu brute(Amelda)?"

"If a model knight like you approached any woman who is worrying about finding a partner, it's only natural for them to pursue you to the ends of the earth."

"Whaa? Wait don't tell me that Aloerina woman is going to be stalking me around now."

Zorn nervously glanced around.

For a strong and upstanding knight, he seemed terrified of overly pushy women.

Actually it has been a while since I've seen these two, the same goes for anyone else from my home country, I wonder how much they've all changed.

It's funny seeing Zorn act this way, but technically he is and old friend who is here on vacation so maybe I should say something to help him relax.

"Don't worry, that female knight is far too busy with work to worry about chasing you around."

I'd know since I am very familiar with every knight and police officer of Axel, for well….. Reasons.

Zorn and Amelda escorted me to the princess, who was waiting a few blocks away from the police station.

She leapt into my arms when we arrived

"Rein-kun! Are you alright? Did anything happen in the cells? I'm sorry I couldn't get you out sooner."

She's worried about me? Wow she has really changed since the last time I saw her.

"I'm fine, actually I have a certain reputation in Axel so nobody would want to mess with me anyways."

That was partially true.

Rather my reputation was bad enough so that I would get my own cell and I'd only be thrown together with those who are under suspicion of a crime to scare them.

"Well since we got you out safe, we should celebrate and have dinner together."

"Sure."

Who would turn down a meal?

I had spent most of the day in the cells and it was already dinnertime.

Normally I would confirm that dinner would be someone else's treat before ordering, but I'm sure I didn't need to ask that here.

After all she did want to become my guarantor yesterday so I'm sure she'll pay for my meal.

As we walked down the shopping street we heard a strange sound.

"Rrrrrrrrrr"

Was that some sort of monster? Did a monster slip through the gates?

"Rrrrrrrrr"

Following the source of the sound, I turn and looked at… Amelda.

Not just me, but everyone else did as well.

Amelda's face went red

"Umm I know we are heading to dinner, but can we maybe get something from a food stall on the way?" she said, looking flustered.

"Sure I don't see why not."

We passed by a food stall selling fried giant toad on a stick.

Amelda quickly headed over and asked for the price of one, accompanied by the sounds of "Rrrrrrrr"

"Oh you have a good eye, that is the meat of a rare monster, one skewer is 200,000 Eris."

200,000 Eris my ass! A skewer like that is 200 at most.

I hate it when other people scam money off others, I don't mind when I do it, but it really pisses me off when others do it.

"Hey old geezer, don't overcharge for your food!"

"Hmm? Ahh! It's the criminal Dust! He must be here to rob me! someone call the cops!"

"Call the cops for what? I'm not the one selling a 200 eris skewer for 200,000!"

I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Umm Rein, I know that the skewer isn't worth 200,000. I have my own common sense you know, I can tell that it's just giant toad meat."

Ahh right, Amelda is not like a certain sheltered princess of Belzerg.

Now that I think about it, I doubt anyone other that her would fall for that scam.

By now, Zorn and the princess had caught up.

"Say, are all of you together? Then how about I sell you four skewers for 200,000 eris?"

"We aren't idiots, even in Gaudveil a skewer of giant toad meat isn't worth any more than 225 eris."

"Oh i'm just an old man having a bit of fun, of course I'm not selling these for 200,000 eris. The price here is 200 eris a skewer."

Realizing that these were not you usual sheltered nobles, the old man quickly covered up his tracks.

A moment later we were walking down the street with skewers in our hands.

I watched the princess nibble half the meat off her skewer, she then offered me the rest.

"I really shouldn't eat too much, do you want the rest Rein-kun?"

"You don't always have to restrain yourself, I can tell you want to eat it so go ahead. I don't mind seeing you indulge yourself."

"You can tell? But umm I really shouldn't, I can't be a glutton.."

The princess already had a balanced looking body, so I don't think she's in any trouble of becoming fat.

"It's not like one skewer is going to ruin your body. Though seeing you worry is kinda cute in it's own way, you shouldn't worry so much. Learn to let go and enjoy life…. Besides, you aren't eating nearly as much as the other one…"

As I said that I turned to the mage Amelda.

While the princess, along with Zorn and I had gotten one skewer each, Amelda had gotten six.

She was actually eating them three at a time.

Realizing that we were eying her, Amelda became flustered again.

"I have a high metabolism okay! I get hungry very easily so I have to eat a lot!"

Seeing how Amelda was eating six skewers, the princess decided to finish her own.

By the way Amelda was always like that, she used to eat a lot back when I was still a noble, looks like she hasn't changed.

"Well since you are a noble, I guess it doesn't matter if you eat a lot."

"What are you saying? It's precisely because I'm a noble lady that I can't be eating so much. Who in the world would marry someone who eats as much as me?"

Amelda is also worrying about marriage?

First Luna, then Darkness now Amelda too?

Why is it that blonde haired women are all so worried about becoming spinsters.

"Well on the plus side, you are the highest level amongst us because you eat three times as much as we do." Zorn added

Amelda was the highest level amongst them?

Actually that's not surprising since nobles eat high quality foods packed with exp, since Amelda eats so much it's only natural that she'd be higher leveled.

Though what Zorn said didn't comfort Amelda in any way.

"You're so mean! I don't want levels, I want a man!"

Why are you so desperate? Any lower ranking nobleman would be glad to marry you and move up in life, just marry one of them and be done with it.

With Amelda now pouting and eating mouthfuls of skewered toad meat, we made our way through the city to an open air cafe.

As we were seated, the princess handed me a menu and smiled.

"Order anything you want Rein-kun, I'll pay for everything."

Oh? Good looks like I can order something other than a cup of water for once.

With that in mind I proudly ordered the wild mushroom spaghetti. I could never afford to eat it before but apparently it was really good and was made from the highest level mushrooms around.

Perhaps trying to flatter me, the princess ordered the same dish, while Zorn and Amelda went over the menu and ordered other things.

Well I guess it's time to chat.

Actually wait, this is an open air cafe right? What if someone passed by as saw me?

I could probably play it off if it was Yunyun, Loli succubus or Kazuma and his party, but if it was Lynn then I'd have a hard time.

Hmm maybe I should go out of character and act like a real noble? Yeah that should be a good idea, that way if anyone I knew passed by, they'd take one look and think: "nope that can't be Dust".

And so, instead of lazily leaning back into my seat and stretching, I sat up straight with my arms on the table, patiently waiting for food to arrive.

"Should I call you Dust here or Rein?"

That again? Why are you worrying over such details now? You never did in the past.

"I told you before, as long as my party isn't around, you can call me whatever you like."

"Rein-kun it is then. Say why can't I call you Rein around your party?"

"It's…. Complicated."

"Are you perhaps trying to hide your identity as a dragon knight? You don't want attract too much attention in fear that you would get involved with Belzerg's royalty?"

"You could say that."

I am trying to hide the fact that I was the dragon knight and I don't want to attract attention, but not because I'm afraid of working for Belzerg's royal family.

I just don't want to work at all.

"Could it be…. You are still dedicated to being my knight? Uuuu.. Thank you Rein-kun." The princess seems to have misunderstood something and began muttering to herself.

"Teehee, keeping a low profile all these years so that he won't be made to serve another princess…. I want to leap into Rein-kun's arms and soar away.."

I felt a poke on my shoulder, I turned to Amelda who was seeking my attention.

"While we are on topic, what do you do everyday under the name of Dust?"

"Why do you ask?"

"The chief of police told me that you were absolute scum who does nothing but drink and harass women."

Zorn spoke up as well

"Yeah, when I spoke with that female knight Aloerina, she said that I should stop associating with you and that judging by your usual actions, you were probably just taking advantage of my position. What do you do to get a reputation like that?"

Why does everyone say such unnecessary things about me?

Sure I drink but everything else is wrong.

Actually I do try and strongarm women into a relationship, but I wouldn't take advantage of a noble.

Wait, I did that with helmeted bastard.

However those were all very specific events.

"I just do a few things so that people get the wrong impression about me."

Once again not exactly a lie, I think I could even fool the lie detecting magic item.

"As expected of Rein-kun, you hide your identity so well that people think you are the exact opposite of your real self!"

Why are you praising me for acting like scum?

Actually why are you even praising me?

Shouldn't you be ordering me around?

Now i'm getting nervous, does she want to butter me up then force some sort of difficult request on me?

Don't tell me you've been taking advice from Luna.

"Well enough about me? What's been going on back home? Is your father well?"

"Oh he's fine."

Damn

I was low key hoping that he had gotten critically ill or something.

I guess with my luck I shouldn't be wishing for such things.

"Actually we are having a bit of trouble recently, so I wanted your help."

I knew it!

What does she want me to do? I don't want to work but I don't want to turn her down either.

If I do accept whatever request she has, maybe I could get my old life back?

Do I want my old life back?

What is the request anyway? It better not be something troublesome.

Actually if it was something like starting a revolution against her father I could be fine with that.

Nevermind I don't want to make an enemy out of the country for a second time.

"Ehhh? Did I say something wrong? Why are you glaring at me?"

Am I? Oh I guess that's my natural reaction to being presented with work.

"Oh sorry, I was just curious since you've been acting different from before. Did you put on this act just to get me back in your favor?"

"What are you talking about? I have genuinely reflected on my past self and changed. I told you yesterday that I didn't want to make the same mistakes as before."

"Yeah yeah okay, what kind of quest do you have for me?"

"You don't believe me?! I really have changed! Haven't you noticed?"

"Yeah I noticed, it's hard to miss seeing as to how you aren't the same selfish princess who ordered me to elope with her."

"Selfish?! ahhh ...right I guess I was a little."

For some reason she started sulking.

Come on don't be like that.

Zorn and Amelda look like they are ready to kill me, seriously stop sulking before I die!

How can I get myself out of this situation?

"Hey don't look so sad, I can see that you've changed. I just don't like it that you are visiting me just so that you can give me some sort of quest."

The princess recovered a bit.

"I wanted to visit you a long time ago, but father wouldn't allow it. So i've been reflecting and improving myself for the day I could see you again. Luckily we have a problem that you can solve, so now father cannot stop me from seeing you. I really don't care about the request, I'm just glad I got to see you again."

So it was the king's fault that she couldn't come visit me before?

Well not that I mind, but still that king should really give her some more freedom.

"So you are saying I can deny whatever request you throw at me?"

"Yes."

"Liana-sama! Don't say that! The fate of the kingdom is at risk here. We need Rein's help more than ever!" Amelda exclaimed.

What did she mean by "the fate of the kingdom is at risk"?

Zorn looked at me with pleading eyes

"Rein, I understand you may have ill feelings towards Gaudveil and the king, but please do not decline the princess' request."

Just what is this super important request that they'd need me for?

"Hey hold on, first off you still haven't told me what the request was. I'll decide after I hear it."

With that, Zorn and Amelda backed off, as for the princess, she sat up straight and cleared her throat.

All three of us were focused on her, I waited for what she was about to say….

"Here's your order."

Right when she was about to talk, a waitress came over and handed us our food.

"Oh thanks…"

"Thank you."

With the moment ruined, we quickly thanked the waitress and got our food.

"This smells good, just like the food in the castle…."

The princess was leaning forward, enjoying the pleasant aroma of the food.

She had completely forgotten what she was about to do.

"Hey, don't forget about the request." I reminded her.

With her fork already dug into her spaghetti, the princess suddenly remembered the request and straighten herself up again.

"Ah right! I almost forgot! Ahem."

Clearing her throat once again, the princess….

"BOOM!"

Was interrupted by the sound of a certain crazy girl doing her daily routine.

"What was that!? Is the city under attack?"

While she panicked, Zorn and Amelda stood up and glanced around for any sign of danger.

I however, remained calm.

"Calm down you guys, that's a normal occurrence around here."

"Hmm? Really? Well I guess this is Belzerg after all, so it's normal for there to be powerful magic users in their town of beginners."

Settling down from her second interruption, the princess once again prepared to relay the request.

This time, there was no interruption, I heard the princess loud and clear.

"An ancient gold dragon has awoken in Gaudveil, we want you to come home and stop it from rampaging in our kingdom."

"..."

* * *

I was now laying on a nice and comfy bed in the same inn that the princess was staying in.

After hearing her request I had refused to say another word and eaten my meal in silence.

Zorn and Amelda kept pressing me to accept, so I told them I'd think about it.

I guess it really was an emergency but...

A gold dragon, not only that but an ancient one as well…..

Ancient dragons were powerful enough on their own, having lived for hundreds if not thousands of years, they can fly, breathe fire and cast magic, unless you were someone with an incredibly powerful magic weapon, you'd be unable to even scratch it.

As for gold dragons, they feed on rare ore and have a body covered with gold scales and other valuable materials. Selling the scales of a gold dragon would get you a fortune, if you can defeat it first that is.

A normal gold dragon was rare and far stronger than a regular ancient dragon….

Yet the one troubling my home country was an ancient gold dragon….

A gold dragon that has lived for centuries, extremely high level, not only that but it's scales have been reinforced by the ore it eats, it was even more rare and more powerful than the normal gold dragons. Extremely resistant to both magical and physical attacks, very large and heavy yet capable of flying faster than any other dragon. it is rumored that even the royal family of Belzerg would need several strikes to kill it.

There was no way I could take on such a thing.

Luckily, ancient dragons are quite smart and would avoid fighting unnecessary fights. You can even cut deals with them if you know how to communicate.

In fact, ancient dragons are more likely to be attacked by hot blooded adventurers than actually be the ones attacking.

That being said, why is one rampaging in my home country? Did it run out of food in it's usual hunting grounds?

Perhaps this is a very specific dragon that likes to destroy things?

If that was the case, then why did it start rampaging now and not years ago?

It just doesn't make much sense, only young dragons liked to rampage about, the older and more wise dragons only wanted to sustain their own life and would not draw attention to themselves. They would mind their own business, sleeping in whatever nesting place they had until they needed to eat or breed.

I wish I could live like that…

Maybe the reason why dragons seem took a liking to me is because I want to live a similar life as them?

Well anyways it turns out that even though the king got himself a new dragon knight, the princess wanted to give me a chance at redeeming myself or something.

Although I didn't like the sound of facing off against such a powerful dragon, I felt like I should at least try for her sake...

If it's a ancient gold dragon, maybe I can find an abandoned mine with gold ore in it, if something like that were to exist I bet there would be a large infestation of monsters there, then again something as powerful as an ancient gold dragon would have no trouble clearing out all the monsters.

Yes, the request didn't mention killing the dragon, just getting it to stop attacking the country.

I've just been reunited with old friends from the past so I'm in a pretty good mood and if everything goes well I may make some good money off this quest. I might actually accept this…

Well anyways it seems like the princess is giving me all the time I need to consider, not only that but she is paying for a room in the inn for me to stay.

She's also paying for food and other expenses.

Maybe she really does regret forcing me to elope with her, perhaps she is spoiling me to make up for getting me banished?

Oh well, if she's offering then i'll indulge myself to my heart's content!

Yes, there was nothing to feel guilty about if both sides are okay with it.

Having rich friends is the best!

* * *

The next day I cautiously made my way to the dining room for breakfast.

I was cautious because I didn't want to risk running into someone I knew.

The two to lookout for here were Kazuma and Yunyun.

Kazuma often books a room in this inn when he makes use of the succubus store, apparently his party priest sets up all sorts of anti devil barriers around his mansion so he can't make use of that store.

As for Yunyun she stays in random inns all over town so there was no telling if she was here or not.

Thankfully I didn't see any of them around.

Well anyways now that I can eat food without worrying about costs, I should go eat my fill.

I went and filled my plate with all sorts of breakfast foods, as I sat down one of the inn staff eyed me suspiciously.

What was his deal?

It is really strange for me to enjoy a paid meal? And by paid I mean paid by someone else.

"Good morning Rein-kun."

I was greeted by the princess with a good morning kiss on the cheek.

"Good morning."

Behind her were her two retainers as usual, they filled their plates and joined me at the table.

"So, Rein, what do you normally do around here?"

Normally i'll beat up some thugs and take their cash, or i'll be lazing around in my cell, or going through the dumpsters searching for anything that could sell for a decent price.

But there is no way I could tell her that.

"Well i'll be headed to the guild as usual, I didn't speak with my party members at all yesterday so they might be worried."

I was an irreplaceable part of that party after all.

Sure they don't appreciate me and even tried to replace me several times in the past but in the end they definitely still need me.

Right?

I finished my food and left those three behind, I wanted to speak with my party on my own and somehow tell them that I was leaving for a while and that they should not try to replace me.

Well then, I was acting out of character for long enough, time to go back to the normal Dust.

* * *

"Oyy Luna-san, you look amazing when you work like that too."

I complimented the well endowed receptionist Luna, who was busy cleaning the counter of the guild in preparation for the day.

"If it isn't Dust-san, it is far too early for your harassment, if you continue speaking this way I might just end up calling the police."

Although Luna smiled, there was a strange intensity to that smile, she also made sure to cover her chest while speaking to me.

"As helpful as that would be, I have recently secured a place to stay, so I won't need the help of Axel's police force."

"Dust-san, your complete lack of pride really amazing."

"Oh really? Well if it's already that amazing, then how about extending my tab at the tavern for another month?"

"No problem! But first i'll need you to take this quest and forfeit the reward."

"Oh, well then I think i'll politely decline."

After almost having another difficult quest shoved upon me, I took a seat in the guild just as my party along with several other adventurers started showing up.

By the way I am not sitting next to an open window this time, take that Lynn, repent for shooting all those lightning spells at the great me.

"You should really stop harassing Luna-san before she forces another difficult quest on us…"

"I won't make promises I can't keep, by the way, you can have my usual spot by the window today Lynn."

"Oh? Well how kind of you."

Lynn sat at my usual spot by the window, while Taylor and Keith sat adjacent to us.

Ha, now Lynn can't fire lightning spell at me without damaging the guild.

Huh?

Did I just see Lynn give a slight nod to someone?

I looked around but saw no one looking this way.

I did however see Luna open the windows on the other side of the guild.

I noticed Lynn give a quick thumbs up, but she quickly hid her hand when I turned towards her.

Dammit, so those two are working together?!

Why those little….

Just you wait Lynn, once I get some money, i'm going to the succubus store and getting my revenge on you in my dreams!

I'm no sadist, but in times like this I want some hardcore revenge play. I wouldn't dare ravage Lynn in real life, but if it was a dream then it's fine.

I'll go for a dream where Lynn is tied up, or maybe a dream where she's too weak to resist me.

"Hehe"

"I knew you were a criminal, but now you've become creepy too."

Huh? Did I do something?

"Wasn't Dust already creepy as he is?"

"No, he was just disgusting."

Seriously? Why does Keith and Taylor have to follow up on whatever Lynn said.

Lynn can be so annoying sometimes.

I took a look at her and began pondering on how the revenge dream should go.

"Hey, if you keep staring like that, nobody is going to blame me if I poke your eyes."

"Don't be so full of yourself, you have nothing worth staring at."

"LIGHTNING!"

A bolt of blue lightning flew in front of my eyes and out the window Luna opened earlier.

"I'll blast you right now!"

"You idiot! Say that first before firing your spell! That one nearly hit me! No matter I am in a good mood today so I will not make you repent. What do we have planned for today?"

Normally i'd shout at Lynn a bit more, but today I was serious.

Taylor seemed ready to speak, but Lynn interrupted him.

"Oh? You are in a good mood today? I wonder why…. Didn't you spend the whole day in the cells yesterday?" she said with a raised eyebrow.

Did she suspect something?

"Yes definitely, so i'm well rested for today. Taylor, if you don't have a quest lined up then i'll take my leave now."

"Don't leave, I just got here and haven't checked the board yet, besides aren't you a bit early today?"

What do you mean?

"Yeah now that you mention it, when was the last time Dust got to the guild before the rest of us…" Keith wondered.

"It's been long enough that I don't ever recall it ever happening." Lynn added

I really ought to punish these so called companions of mine someday.

Also why was Lynn glancing over Taylor's shoulder every now and then?

Forget that what do these "companions" of mine see me as?

"Hey I think it's about time you told me exactly what you see me as."

"A beast wearing a man's body." Lynn instantly replied

"A street thug from the slums." Keith replied immediately after Lynn

"Someone who drags others to the dark side." Taylor followed right after Keith.

How could you answer so quickly? And how come you timed your replies so well? Do you rehearse lines behind my back or something?

Also who do you keep looking at Lynn?

Following her gaze over Taylor's shoulder, I noticed a pitiful girl with a not so pitiful chest.

She was probably wanted to come over and say hi, but whenever she got closer to us her loner tendencies kicked in and she would hide her face and back away.

Yunyun really needed to work on her social skills.

Forgetting about whatever my party was talking about, I watched the cycle repeat itself a few times over until Yunyun realised she could not find the courage to talk to us and started crying.

What a sad sight…..

I was about to call out to her but Lynn beat me to it.

"Oh? Is that Yunyun-san? How's it going?"

Did Lynn and Yunyun become friends behind my back?

"Ahh L-Lynn-san, it's good to see you again…"

After being invited over, Lynn happily skipped to our table, she looked at me then sat next to Taylor, who slid over towards Keith to make room for Yunyun.

"Say, you hardly know Taylor but you've known me for quite some time. Why do you choose to sit with Taylor anyways?"

"Even sitting with a stranger is safer than sitting with Dust-san."

"What is that supposed to mean? I'm not at all interested in your child body with oversized breasts, you jailbait."

"A delinquent who spends most of his time in jail calls me jailbait?! I'm already of marriageable age you know."

Ignoring our exchange, Taylor looked on with visible confusion in his eyes.

"Why are you here Yunyun-san?"

Keith had his questions as well, after all Yunyun had a reputation for working alone, so it was surprising that she would come over and speak to us.

"Yeah, I've seen you hanging out with Dust quite often recently, it isn't safe for you to stay near Dust."

"Hey what does that mean? It's perfectly fine for Yunyun to be friends with me. Right Yunyun?"

"...Being friends….. That's…. Ahhh no i'm not friends with Dust-san, he's more like someone who frequents the same store as me, so we just happen to run into each other."

What the?! Even Yunyun turned me down?!

"Besides, i'm not here because of Dust-san. It's because….. Umm…. yesterday I hung out with my new f-f-friend Lynn and I wanted to thank her."

You don't have to thank someone for hanging out with you.

Wait hold on for just a minute, how did Yunyun manage to find the courage and hang out with Lynn?

"Oh no worries, I had fun too."

"R-really? That's great! So did I!"

Lynn and Yunyun were getting along well….

And here I thought her only friend was that explosion loli who comes from the same village as her.

As I said that the door to the guild was flung open forcefully, and there stood a mage with her cape floating in the wind.

Speak of the devil….

"Good morning! I Megumin! The number one archmage of the Crimson Demons and wielder of explosion magic! has come to pay you a visit!" Megumin shouted while making various poses.

Everyone was used to her making such a scene by now, so most of the guild just ignored her.

I was worried that she would get angry and cast explosion in the guild, but even she wasn't crazy enough to do that, instead she made her way over to our table.

Why is she making her way over to our table?

"Good morning Lynn! Oh and i'm surprised that Dust is here so early."

"Yes, Dust has been a bit strange lately."

What are you two saying? I've been the same as always.

"Forget that, why are you three suddenly pals all of a sudden."

"Is that really strange? We simply had a girls night out yesterday." Lynn explained

Ahh then that would explain why Yunyun wanted to come over and why Megumin is speaking with us.

"It was really f-fun, I n-never toured the town with a group before."

Yunyun hid her face.

If you enjoyed it then why are you averting your gaze and stuttering?

"Yes it's amazing how despite living here for quite some time, there are still some things and some people who will surprise you, if you take the time to look." Unlike Yunyun, Megumin seemed genuinely happy.

Actually she looked more smug than happy.

Did they all go sightseeing?

"Well it looks like you had a fun day yesterday." I said to Lynn

"Yes it really was, we had a good time visiting the shopping street."

The shopping street? That's where the princess' entourage was yesterday along with me.

Actually now that I think about it, why are they all eying me? Why are they saying that i've been acting strange lately?

Don't tell me….

"Oy what's with those looks? Is my popular period here?"

"As if" x3

You three are surprisingly well coordinated.

"How dense can you possibly act, these are obviously looks of suspicion and not admiration."

I know that Lynn.

"Besides there is no woman who can possibly fall for this guy."

Shut up you explosion freak, someone like you should not be allowed out of the mental ward known as Kazuma's mansion.

"Ehh but wait, aren't we here because Dust was hanging out with that noble lady's party yesterday? Ahhh…. "

Yunyun, who was not good at telling lies and following along, spilled the beans.

"That is impossible. Why would I get involved with nobles?"

"He's right."

Oh? Keith is backing me up?

"Dust is too much of a coward to try his usual trick with nobility."

Screw you Keith, why are you nodding Taylor? Don't agree with him!

Are you on my side or not?

"Really? Because it looks like you had a good time yesterday, remember the open air cafe? The food stalls? Those three nobles?"

Lynn too?

Wait a second, Lynn, Megumin and Yunyun were all together, Megumin knows my identity, while Yunyun and Lynn won't shut up about that dragon knight fairy tale.

Yeah this may not be too good.

Now I see why Megumin has that smug expression on her face.

Well I did say that she could tell anyone she wanted because they wouldn't believe her, so I won't do anything.

Yes i'm doing that out of the goodness of my heart and not because I'm afraid that she'll cast explosion on me.

I'll just keep denying everything.

"You must have mistaken me for someone else, I spent yesterday in the cells."

"No, i'm sure it was you. I found it hard to believe since you were acting so different but i'm certain it was you."

"That's impossible."

Now it was Megumin's turn to talk

"Oh? Well then why was there a group of nobles looking for you the day before yesterday?"

I shrugged

"Huh? I don't know maybe they had mistaken me for one of them because of my handsome blonde hair?"

"Dust-san why are you acting like this? Megumin told me that you are the dragon knight from the story."

I burst out laughing

"Oh that's rich! Do I look like a noble dragon knight to you?" I jabbed my thumb towards myself.

"Not at all, you look a common thug you can find anywhere."

Don't answer to quickly! And aren't you supposed to say something like 'u-umm well now that I think about it, you do l-look the part…'

Well since Yunyun obviously has the wrong idea about me, I turned too Megumin.

"Hey don't look at me, aren't you just Kazuma's friend who drags him to the dark side? Speaking of which, stop inviting Kazuma to do questionable things with you."

These girls….

If you are going to accuse me of being a dragon knight at least shower me with praises and flatter me a bit.

Of course none of these girls are my type so it wouldn't work to begin with.

Lynn nudged me

"Hey, why don't you just tell us the truth? What happened in the past? I want to know."

"Me too." Yunyun added

Both looked at me with eyes of anticipation.

Stop giving me those looks.

"There's no fun to be had from talking about the past, a real man looks to the future."

"Only the things you say makes any sense. Well if you won't tell us then maybe that noble lady will."

Lynn pointed towards a certain noble group.

What are they doing here?

"Hey, didn't you guys spend yesterday with Dust?"

"Hmm? What are you talking about? Ahh it's that disgusting man from yesterday!"

What did you call me?

Actually that could work, carry on princess.

"You see…"

Keith and Taylor seemed convinced

"Yep that sounds like Dust."

"Sorry about the trouble."

Those two were easy to convince, but it seems like Lynn, Yunyun and Megumin were not as easy.

"Wait that doesn't make any sense, weren't you looking for him the day before? You even called him by another name." Lynn pointed out

"Oh we thought he was a former noble from our kingdom, he looks just like Rein Chelka but his eyes are the wrong colour."

Good job! You are really good at lying princess!

"Rein Chelka? Actually where are you from anyways? Are you a noble?"

"Well um yes sort of, I'm from the kingdom of Gaudveil, yes I am a noble, umm….. My name is Lana."

"Pfft"

I couldn't help but laugh

I know she couldn't just reveal herself as a princess, but seriously? She chose Lana as her alias? Come on put some more effort into it.

By the way, her real name was Liana, so all she did was remove the "i" from her name.

"Well anyways I will be leaving Belzerg soon, so I want this man to hurry up and pay me back for yesterday."

Liana was probably making an excuse to take me away, there must be something important going on.

Luckily after experiencing situations like this many times in the past, I know how this will go down.

"Oh right… say do any of you guys have money to lend me?"

"Pay it back yourself."

"First return what you owe me."

"I've already loaned you enough."

"Seriously? What happened to the bond between party members!?"

As expected, Lynn, Keith and Taylor all refused.

"Don't look at me, I have no relation with you at all."

"I won't lend you anymore, even if you say we are f-f-friends."

Neither Yunyun or Megumin would loan me anything, good.

"Well sorry, looks like I can't pay you back. Send your complaints to the big boobed receptionist over there."

"If you can't pay me back then you'll have to work it off."

With a snap of her fingers, Liana ordered Zorn and Amelda to seize me and take me away.

Keeping up with the act, I kicked a screamed.

"Hey! These guys are using violence against me! This is illegal!"

Nobody moved a muscle.

"Lynn, Taylor, Keith, Yunyun, anyone! Do something!"

Instead they all watched.

As I was being dragged away we passed by Luna, who still seemed angry about earlier, yet when she saw me she smiled, but the smile didn't reach her eyes.

"Have a safe trip Dust-san."

"Help meee!"

* * *

After being dragged away from the guild, Zorn and Amelda finally let me go.

"Owww, why did you have to be so rough?"

"Sorry Rein-san, but the princess told us to make it look real. Aside from that why did you have to struggle so much?"

"I was making it look real too, by the way why did you guys show up? Did something happen?"

The princess nodded

"A messenger came through today, my father doesn't want us to waste any time so we were told to return asap, with or without you. So umm, have you decided?"

Princess Liana took a beseeching pose before me and clasped her hands together, looking up at me with pleading eyes.

"Will you return with me and save the kingdom?"

…...Oh come on, how can I say no to that face?

* * *

**Intermission: spying on that fake deliquinent.**

Hello, my name is Lynn, i'm a amateur mage working as an adventurer in the town of Axel.

I'm part of a party consisting of four adventurers.

Our leader is a Crusader named Taylor, although he is a novice, he is a great leader who looks out for us.

Our Archer is named Keith, though he is not exactly someone you should look up too, he loves to gamble and drink all the time, but he is a decent archer.

Then there is that thing…..

I met him on the carriage to Axel when I was moving here to start my career as an adventurer.

The villain calling himself Dust.

He always gets into trouble and does everything he can to avoid honest work.

Even though he is one of the strongest adventurers in Axel and by no means a novice, he always lazes around begging others to buy him meals and usually sleeps in jail cells, as if he had no pride at all.

He also constantly asks me to bail him out of jail, seriously why is he always asking me? Go ruin someone else's life.

To absolutely no one's surprise, he didn't show up at the guild today.

Probably got himself arrested or into some other trouble again.

Whatever, i'm not bailing him out again.

Today, Taylor had a goblin hunting quest for us, we considered asking Kazuma to fill in for Dust but he was nowhere to be found.

That Kazuma had recently become famous around here, he was one of the weakest adventurers in Axel yet his party managed to defeat more demon king generals than any other party in the world.

Anyone would think it's because of the three advanced class women around him, but as it turns out Kazuma is incredibly smart and lucky.

Not only that, but being an adventurer means he could learn any skill he needed as long as he had the points.

To think we once looked down on him for being having the adventurer class….

I don't even have to ask the others, we would gladly ditch Dust for Kazuma.

Oh well, neither of them could be found, so we ended up doing the quest as a party of three.

More rewards for us.

It's probably better to keep money out of Dust's hands anyways, that thing would spend it all in one go and be broke by daylight.

Why do we even keep him in the party?

Taylor is the vanguard, Keith and I provide ranged support…

The only thing we are missing is a healer…

If only a priest would come along, then we could ditch Dust and balance out our party.

Then again, we did ditch him in the past and it didn't work out for us…

Sometimes Dust does things that doesn't suit him, it was strange.

Once he spoke to an angry dragon and made a deal with it…

Another time he saved us from a group of criminals and even fought off a hitman using a spear…

He also did something to help cheer up the crown princess of this country.

He is definitely hiding something, but he just won't tell me.

...

You know what, maybe I should bail him out again, but this is the last time.

On my way to the police station I noticed an odd scene before me.

Two crimson eyed girls were hiding behind the corner of a building, peeping at someone in the distance.

They were the two crimson demon clansmen living in this town.

The explosion user Megumin and the solo mage Yunyun.

I should probably leave them alone, after all everyone in town knows that Yunyun does not like company.

She's bailed the adventurers of this town out of trouble many times, so we return the favor by leaving her alone.

Guess a crimson demon doesn't get along well with us normal folk.

Passing by the duo I noticed a strange scene in front of me.

Dust was leaving the police station accompanied by… two blonde haired individuals.

Nobles maybe?

What did he do this time? Don't tell me he tried to rob them.

If he's getting the capital punishment I'm not getting involved.

I should probably stay back for now.

I followed Dust and the two nobles, until they met up with another noble lady, this one was dressed in robes suited for a spell caster.

I recognized her as the same girl from yesterday, who showed up and started calling Dust "Rein-kun"

"See, now he is meeting up with another noble lady."

"Well yes but it doesn't prove anything."

"What do you mean? From experience I can tell that the lady dressed in robes is clearly of high importance, while the other two are likely her guards."

I didn't notice it earlier, but it seems that Megumin and Yunyun were also following Dust.

Maybe I should go speak with them.

"Hello Yunyun-san, Megumin-san."

"Wahh!"

"Gahhh!"

The two of them were startled when I called their names.

"You are Dust's f-f-friend right? What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing."

"Oh u-ummm well, uhhh we are.."

While Yunyun seemed too shy to answer, Megumin stood up and flicked her cape.

"We are following your delinquent so that I may prove a point to Yunyun. If you have a problem then the chief of the Crimson Demons, Yunyun, will not stand idly by."

"Why do you only acknowledge my position as chief now?!"

It seemed like Megumin was ready to fight.

Well she was known to be short tempered.

"Oh, well I was doing the same. I did not expect to see Dust hanging out with nobles so I decided to follow him around."

Megumin nodded

"Ahh I see."

"Hold on, why are you following Dust around? Does he owe you money."

"I would never loan money to that thing."

"U-umm he does owe me a bit, but well…."

Megumin ignored Yunyun and kept talking

"Ever since someone told her about the story of the dragon knight and the princess, Yunyun here keeps fawning over it, I got tired of seeing her all bushy tailed so I told her that Dust is the dragon knight."

"You are so mean! Mistaking the dragon knight for Dust must really hurt the dragon knight's feelings…." Yunyun shouted, shaking Megumin in the process.

I knew that Yunyun was really interested in that story, so it made sense that she would act like this if Megumin shattered her fantasies by claiming that the dragon knight is Dust.

"I get it, stop making so much noise or they'll notice us!"

And so the three of us started to follow Dust around.

We watched him get into a fight with a food stall owner, then the group bought some skewers and ate them as they walked.

By the way, one of the noble ladies offered half her skewer to Dust, who declined it and seemed to comfort her over something.

Yunyun and Megumin noticed it too

"That's strange, Dust-san would never turn down free food. Are you sure this is him?"

"Well he did start a fight with the food stall owner…"

I agreed with them both

"Yes that must be Dust, but why did he turn down the food? It couldn't be because it was half eaten, Dust is not above eating food out of the dumpsters behind restaurants."

Was Dust being nice to that one noble lady?

Dust usually hates getting involved with the nobility, should he be doing everything he can to push them away?

After watching Dust tease the other noble woman, the group went on to an open air cafe.

There is no way Dust could afford to eat anything there, those nobles must be paying for everything..

Not only that, but Dust seems oddly close to one of the noble ladies.

I couldn't hear what they were saying, but with the way that noble lady was acting, I could say for sure that she was familiar with Dust at one time or the other.

"Hey don't you find it strange how Dust is sitting?" Yunyun asked

Oh that's right, Dust was sitting like a person and not leaning back, spreading his legs and stretching his arms out.

"I'm beginning to think this isn't Dust…"

Megumin stood up proudly.

"Well there is only one way to be sure! Come with me Yunyun, I shall cast Explosion outside the town right now!."

"What are you saying?! Stop disturbing the town your magic!"

Although Yunyun had a point, it's perfectly fine now, nobody is bothered by it anymore. In fact some people even go out to watch Megumin's explosion routine.

"Go ahead, the town is used to your routine by now."

"See Yunyun, people have no problem hearing the sound of my power! In fact they should feel safer knowing that an explosion user is living among them. Come on now, if the man that resembles the blonde delinquent doesn't react to my explosion, then we will know for sure that he is Dust. Lynn-san, I'll leave you to witness the results."

With that, Megumin left with a reluctant Yunyun in tow.

A few moments later the sound of explosion rang throughout the town.

The nobles panicked at first, but Dust quickly calmed them down.

Yes that had to be Dust.

But why was he having dinner with three nobles?

Why did they bail him out of jail?

Maybe they had also mistaken Dust for the dragon knight and Dust was taking advantage of them?

But that wouldn't explain why Dust is acting differently, someone like him wouldn't possibly know how to behave like a noble.

I know that Dust is hiding his past, so maybe this is related?

Although knowing him, he's probably just digging himself into trouble…

I don't care if Dust gets into trouble, he should take the chance to learn from his mistakes.

But in this case i'm curious, really curious.

When did Dust meet these nobles?

Why is he acting so different?

Who is that Rein they keep mentioning?

A few moments later Yunyun returned carrying Megumin on her back.

I told them what I saw, all three of us were convince that we were following Dust.

Tomorrow we will definitely ask him about it.

* * *

"Help meee!"

I watched as Dust was dragged out of the guild...

Apparently the nobles from yesterday had mistaken him for someone else, Dust must have feasted on meals using their money and couldn't pay them back, so now they were taking him away to work off his debt.

"Rein Chelka, why does that name sound familiar... Ahh I remember!"

Yunyun suddenly exclaimed, did she hear about that person before?

All of us stared at Yunyun waited for an explanation, but for some reason she looked embarrassed and covered her face.

"Geez you can't even speak when you have everyone's attention? this is why loners are the worst."

Even though Megumin always looked out for Yunyun, it seemed like she was also pretty mean towards her.

"N-no, give me a moment." Yunyun said, revealing her red face from behind her hands.

"O-okay, remember back when I first arrived I spoke with a few strangers? one of them mentioned a young nobleman who was also dragon knight named Rein Chelka who moved here after leaving his country. Does that mean those nobles were here for the dragon knight from the story?"

Megumin slammed the table

"Of course! didn't I tell you? Dust is the dragon knight, he admitted it the day before yesterday, he also told me that the story is just an over glorified version of what really happened."

"Noo stop saying that! There is no way a kind and handsome dragon knight would do the things Dust does."

"You still don't believe me? very well, since Kazuma refuses to come out in this heat, lets follow those nobles around to see if they act differently when we aren't present."

Hold on a second, Dust admitted to being the dragon knight? to Megumin?

Maybe he assumed Megumin wouldn't tell anyone?

I pressed her for more details

"Did Dust really say that he is the dragon knight?"

"Yes! after all I once saw him teach a new adventurer how to use a spear. Although I know nothing about using a spear, my crimson eyes can see that he is very skilled with it."

Dust teaching people how to use a spear?

That was definitely strange, Dust uses a sword.

Actually there were a few times when he picked up a spear, like that one time when he was guarding us at night...

"If Dust really is the knight, why would he tell you?"

"He told me that even if I told someone, they would never believe me. Clearly he wishes to challenge the faith that others have placed in me. A Crimson Demon never backs down, so I am planning to tell everyone I can, starting with you and Yunyun."

Well it's true that Megumin is hard to believe.

But Dust claiming to be the dragon knight? that's unheard of.

Could he really be?

"Taylor, Keith, maybe we should follow Dust and see what he's gotten into."

* * *

**A/N: **Alright, so I am officially making this into a full story, maybe I'll get five or six chapters in before ending it. That aside, there is a little matter I need to settle regarding the characters.

it's obvious that Dust's party as well as OCs from the other country will play a large part in the remainder of this story. But I'm also wondering if Yunyun and Megumin should stay as well. Should I try and put these characters in? please let me know.


	3. A Quest for the Sake of That Princess

**A Quest for the Sake of That Princess**

We left Axel on short notice so I didn't have time to pack anything, then again I had nothing to pack.

I kinda wish we could have just went to the teleport store to instantly travel to the capital of Gaudveil, but such a thing was not possible.

There was an international law that forbid teleport stores from offering teleportation to other nations.

After all, there is no way a nation would allow foreigners to instantly cross their borders and end up in their capital or major cities.

It would take a few days to travel there by a regular carriage, by dragon it would probably take a few hours.

But we had neither of those, after all Liana was the princess and the country urgently needed me back, so they had brought a magic carriage drawn by Lizard Runners. I remember seeing Kazuma and his party ride one of these back when we took a quest to watch out for them on their trip to Elroad.

It would be much faster than a normal carriage.

It was also disguised as a regular carriage to avoid attention, it even had fake wheels.

If Liana didn't show me the luxurious interior I would have mistaken it for some merchant's carriage.

"I know it's not as fast as your dragons, but this is the best we could do."

It's not like you would be able to bring them here in the first place.

"Oh no, this is fine, really it is."

As me and the princess sat inside, Amelda activated the carriage, at the snap of her fingers it began to hover a good distance off the ground.

Zorn took the reins of the carriage while Amelda joined us inside the carriage.

"Hyah!"

With a quick flick of the reins, we were off.

It was nice to be chauffeured around, I relaxed in my seat inside the carriage.

I watched princess Liana stare out the window in awe, as if she were a kid seeing the world for the first time.

"Wow! Amazing! Everything is passing by so fast! The monsters here are also very different!"

I'm surprised you can even notice the differences at this speed.

"Is this your first time outside of Gaudveil?"

Liana nodded

"Father usually forbids me from leaving the castle, in fact this is the first time I could see the world outside of the capital walls ever since you took me away all those years ago."

That king, he really needs to stop sheltering about his daughter so much.

How could Liana grow to be a good ruler if she had no experience of the outside world?

Seeing her gaze upon the surroundings in awe made me interested as well, I sat next to her and glanced out the window as well.

She looked at me, puzzled for a moment, but then she smiled.

The two of us passed the time watching the scenery outside.

Zorn was really pushing the lizard runners, well there was a dragon crisis back I can't blame him.

Anyone else would worry about crashing at this speed, but luckily these carriages had a powerful magic barrier that protects the occupants.

In the event of a collision or an attack, only the driver and those sitting outside the carriage would be pulverized.

However Zorn looked determined to get us back quickly, he probably didn't care if he got hurt.

But at this rate, we could possibly crash...

"Hey aren't you going a bit too fast?"

"What are you talking about? We need to get back to the capital at once, don't worry if we crash Amelda will switch places will me."

"Just leave it to me!" Amelda puffed her chest out with pride.

"That's not what i'm worried about, if we crash what will happen to you?"

"The princess will take care of me."

"Huh?"

I looked at Liana expecting her to clarify.

"Oh right! I haven't told you yet. In the last few years, my father had the best priests from the local church teach me healing and recovery magic along with some basic prayers, he wanted to make sure I could heal myself if I ever got hurt. I don't think I can fully heal any severe wounds but I'll do my best."

That king really babied Liana way too much.

But i'm not complaining, it's rare to find a healer these days.

Besides, Liana is a princess, she should have some pretty high stats so she could probably keep us all healed.

Plus there is nothing wrong with her personality, unlike a certain blue haired party priest, or the head of the Axis cult who I met in jail.

Two Vanguards, a ranged attacker and a support caster.

We had a pretty good party here, I don't foresee us running into any trouble.

I shouldn't say that out loud though, I don't want to raise a flag.

Let me move on to another topic, yes this has been on my mind for a while now.

"Yo Liana, what happened to you after my exile? If I recall correctly you were betrothed to the prince of a neighborhooding nation."

I never met the one Liana was supposed to marry, but I'm sure I wouldn't like them.

Royalty didn't care for others, they just did what they wanted under the guise of benefitting the country.

Not only was Liana's fiancee a royal, but well let's just say that I hate when people take things from me, I don't mind taking things from others, but if it's done to me I can't stand it!

Especially when it's some cocky noble, entitled from birth.

I eagerly waited for Liana's answer…

"Well about that…. I may have exaggerated what we did during our week alone…."

"What do you mean?"

Liana started to blush

"Well, I told my father and the prince that you and I had become adults during our honeymoon... teehee…."

What?

"... as it turns out, the prince did not want a used woman, so he broke off the marriage."

"Forget that! Why did you have to say something so unnecessary! Gahhh! No wonder the king banished me!"

Liana tilted her head in confusion.

Oh come on! How do you not realize it? The king thinks we gave each other our first times! No wonder he was so pissed!

I really wanted to shout at her, but honestly if I wasn't exiled like that, I would have never realized that hard work doesn't pay off.

My family worked our way up from nothing to become nobles, I trained hard to become a dragon knight.

In the end, it brought us nothing.

Now that I think about it, what happened to my family after my exile?

I should find out once we get to Gaudveil.

Since we were in a hurry, we rarely stopped for anything.

We only stopped to take care of the needs of the body, the rest of the time we were dashing across the plains.

Gaudveil was further from Belzerg than Elroad was, so we would likely be travelling all day today.

A few hours later we had crossed the border between Belzerg and Gaudveil.

As usual we stopped for nothing, Amelda, Liana and I ate inside the carriage while Zorn ate while steering the carriage.

It was already getting late, the sun was setting and the sky was getting dark.

I wanted to stop and rest for the day, but Zorn insisted we continue.

* * *

Without stopping for anything, we headed straight towards the capital.

By the way, this country was nowhere near as dangerous as Belzerg so travelling at night wasn't so dangerous..

Since Belzerg is on the front lines against the demon king army, the people there are much stronger, so are the monsters.

Here in Gaudveil, it's much more peaceful and monsters are less common.

A beginner adventurer from Belzerg would be seen as an experienced one here.

Of course, adventurers here were far less common.

We passed a few towns and reached the capital in record time.

Perhaps she was not used to staying up late, but when we arrived at the capital princess Liana had fallen asleep on my shoulder.

If she could do something like that, then she must really trust me.

Or she trusted that Amelda would prevent me from doing anything to her.

Across the carriage, Amelda looked drowsy as well, she rested her head on the side of the carriage but forced herself to stay awake.

She also never let her eyes off me since princess Liana fell asleep.

Staring at me, with squinted eyes, eyes that looked full of suspicion

Why are you staring at me like that? I wouldn't dare do anything to the princess.

Well I wanted to at first, but the king of Gaudveil will probably have my head if I do anything.

"..."

Amelda yawned.

And returned to giving me that stare

"What's with that look? Did I do something you don't like?"

Amelda's eyes widened

"Hmm? Oh sorry! I was tired I didn't mean to stare like that!"

Oh so those were the eyes of someone sleepy, not suspicious huh?

I guess my time in Axel made me think that she was eying me out of suspicion, like what Lynn always does.

Speaking of Lynn, how is she doing back in Axel? I left on such short notice that she might be worried.

Would she? Yeah she would….. Right? Actually forget that, she's probably happy that i'm gone.

I just hope that my party doesn't accidentally recruit another criminal to replace me, because this time I won't be there to help.

Huh, why do I feel like I should go back to check on them?

Ignoring Taylor and Keith, I seem to always be worried about Lynn, but why? Ever since I met her while travelling to Axel, I couldn't seem to get her out of my head.

I looked at the sleeping face of princess Liana, the girl from my past.

Her face really did look just like Lynn's.

If Lynn dyed her hair blonde and wore blue contact lenses, she would look just like Liana.

Maybe that's why I always felt protective of Lynn, maybe some part of me still wanted to protect the princess, so I ended up pairing those feelings with the one girl who looked just like her.

Well now I have the real princess right here sleeping next to me, so I should get Lynn out of my head right?

I bet she wouldn't like it if I kept thinking about another girl.

Yeah I should really stop thinking about Lynn and focus on the task at hand….

That really doesn't sound like me, maybe I have a fever or something.

I should see a doctor once we get to the castle.

Dashing through the empty streets of the capital, Zorn parked the carriage in front of the castle and hopped out to speak with the guards.

I suppose it was time to wake up the princess.

"Umm? Your highness…."

I nudged Liana to wake her up.

She slowly opened her eyes and smiled upon seeing my face.

"Good morning Rein-kun." She said sleepily.

"It's not morning yet, anyways we have arrived at the castle."

"Oh, then good night Rein-kun."

"Don't fall asleep again!"

Liana sat upright.

"I'm not, I just thought good night was the appropriate thing to say since it's night time."

The princess rubbed her eyes, then proceeded to wake up Amelda as Zorn returned to the carriage and bid us to enter the castle.

We made our way through the halls, passing expensive paintings and trodding on expensive carpets.

This place brings back memories, a lot of memories.

Too much actually, there are some things I don't want to remember.

As I was glancing around unwillingly recalling the past, Liana walked alongside me.

"How does it feel to be home again?"

"This isn't my home."

I never lived at the castle, by the way my actual home was demolished when I was exiled and I didn't have my own place in Axel so I'm technically a nomad.

"Oh, sorry about your old home, if you like I'd be more than willing to have you stay in the castle for the time being…. Well if my father allows it.."

Why are you still so obedient with that trash king?

If you really want me to stay, then stand up to him and keep pressuring until he relents.

We reached the throne room, apparently the king was already waiting for us in there.

I really didn't want to see him again, but there was no turning back now.

Liana already went through so much to bring me back, so I should follow along.

The heavy doors to the throne room were opened by two guards, Zorn and Amelda stepped to the side and bowed as Liana and I stepped forward to meet the king.

Normally i'm supposed to bow at this point, but I really didn't like lowering my head to anyone unless it meant saving my life.

Besides I haven't forgiven the king at all, so don't expect me to be nice to him.

The king eyed me with equal disrespect.

"Rein Chelka, did you forget who I am? Or has your time in the barbarian country of Belzerg rotted your brain to the point where you have forgotten how to bow?"

"I'm out."

One phrase from the king and I was already pissed.

I turned to leave, but Liana grabbed my sleeve.

"Please don't go yet, Rein-kun."

I turned and saw the face of the princess, who was pleading with me to stay a bit longer.

Fine i'll stay for you, but not for him.

I can't say that out so I silently returned to the front of the king.

"Well?! Have you forgotten how to properly conduct yourself? Or have you forgotten the face of Clayton Fulg Gaudveil IX?"

See? That is how royalty acts, high and mighty, proudly declaring their names as if it was something special.

Everyone has a name, just cause you got a number at the end of yours doesn't make you anymore interesting.

And don't act like being royalty is something to be proud of, you just inherited a ton of wealth and power by doing absolutely nothing at all.

"Rein-senpai, you should stop stalling and bow before the king."

"Who are you?"

There was some guy in noble clothes standing next to the king.

He looked a few years older than me. His fancy clothes, gold pendant and shiny blonde hair gave the impression of a high ranking noble.

The way he stood reminded me of myself, he probably was adept at using a spear

I've never seen him before.

Besides the king is the one stalling, we can have a conversation without the formalities, like normal people.

Instead of the nobleman replying the king spoke instead.

"He is Helm Sol Jaster, the one who is replacing you."

"Why is he standing next to you?"

"You are in no position to ask questions former dragon knight."

The king looked at his guards.

"Since this man clearly does not want to cooperate, execute him at once."

"Father! Aren't you being too cruel!"

Ignoring Liana, I immediately bowed.

I'm not dumb enough to keep pressing someone like him. Especially since he was ready to execute me years ago.

With my head lowered I heard the king snicker.

"Well then, now we may begin."

That king really gets on my nerves.

"You have some nerve rousing me up this late at night with the crimes you've committed against this country. Under normal circumstances you would have lost your head the moment you entered this room, but we are in a bit of a dire situation."

All I did was follow your precious daughter's orders, stop pushing everything onto me.

"I apologize for that, but let's just focus on the more important matters at hand."

I'm not going to push the king any further.

"Yes, there is an ancient gold dragon terrorizing the towns, go exterminate it."

The king went straight to giving orders, just like every other noble i've met. Of course he just had to give me an impossible task.

"If you wanted to kill it! then go ask the royal family of Belzerg to do it! There is no way anyone here could possibly kill that thing!"

The king sighed

"It appears that it was a mistake to welcome you back here."

Welcome?! What part of this is a welcome?! Your daughter practically ruined my life in Axel and dragged me here!

No good, if this kept up i'd probably lash out and since royalty always inherited high stats I would probably end up dead.

Yeah why are you sending someone like me to deal with that thing? You have higher stats and magic sword.

"Hey now, I'm not saying I can't deal with it. I'm saying that instead of killing it, which is impossible for anyone to do unless they were royalty, I could investigate what caused the dragon to go berserk."

Yeah I know I'm kissing the king's feet here, it pisses me off! It really does! But I'm not about to die here.

"An acceptable solution, do it now."

Now?! Stop making unreasonable requests! If I could just go over there and instantly tame an ancient gold dragon I would have done so from the start and destroyed the kingdom with it!

"Not possible I'd have to investigate for a few days at least."

"Your excellency, if I may, I would like to suggest letting me tame the dragon now and get it over with."

That Helm guy was saying something ridiculous. No dragon knight could just magically tame something that strong.

"No!"

Every turned to the princess, who had reacted strongly to Helm's suggestion.

"No, can we please give Rein a chance first? Please father?"

The king smiled seeing Liana pleading like that.

Did he have a thing for his own daughter? What a creep!

"Yes you are right, other things aside, Rein was the finest Dragon Knight we ever had, I suppose we could follow along with his plan for now."

The king instantly agreed with Liana, he really spoiled her far too much.

The new Dragon Knight, Helm, objected

"But your excellency, I'm certain that I can tame that dragon right now! There is no need to wait for Rein. I can stop it from hurting anyone else right now!"

"Ahh Helm, I admire your self confidence, but you are still a novice dragon knight. You know what? You can go with Rein and investigate the dragon immediately."

"Yes of course, consider it done your majesty."

Huh?

Did I just see the faintest…

Did Helm just hide the faintest scowl ever? Or did I imagine that?

No matter, it seems like I'll be working with this guy, maybe I should teach him a few things.

* * *

Even though it was night time, the king insisted that we leave immediately to investigate the dragon.

As Helm and I left the castle, Liana ran up to me and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before hugging me goodbye.

"Good luck Rein, I look forward to hearing of your success tomorrow."

I felt a pair of eyes watching me…

This is not what it looks like Helm, please do not complicate my relationship with the king any further.

By the way, Helm was now wearing a full suit of armor, it bore the colours of the country and was well suited for riding dragons, he also had a spear, which definitely looked like it was made by a high level craftsman.

I of course, had nothing but my usual clothes and my sword.

Helm led me to the courtyard outside the castle, where a dragon lay sleeping.

"I can guide you to the dragon's nest, Rein-senpai, but I'll have to leave tracking the dragon to you."

Even though he was clearly older than me, Helm referred to me as "senpai"

There's nothing wrong with that I guess, apparently he was a dragon knight in training, so he looked up to me as his predecessor.

But really, if only it was a girl calling me that, it would be much more enjoyable.

As we approached the dragon woke up, it stared at us for a moment.

If I was wearing a helmet I would have removed it to show that I bore no ill intent, but I didn't have one, Helm on the other hand kept his helmet on, I guess I isn't very used to dragon taming.

I looked into the dragon's eyes, it showed no sign of hostility, instead it made a low rumbling noise of approval and lowered it's head.

The dragon was equipped with a saddle and reins, my body still remembered how to handle it after all these years.

My own dragons had been equipped with the same kind of saddle. I wonder what happened to them.

"Are you still able to ride?" Helm asked

"Yes of course, I'm very familiar with this."

"Well then, I'll be in your care."

I wonder what happened to the two dragons that my family raised back in the day: Lancius and Aceis.

I should ask Helm.

"Well after you left, there wasn't anyone else capable of taming them, so they've gone off to live in the wild. It's a shame, I would have liked to fight alongside a flame dragon and earth dragon."

Ahh I see, well it's not like everyone is as amazingly skilled as I was.

Wait a sec, did he say flame dragon and earth dragon?

Lancius was a flame dragon so I assume he was referring to him, but Aceis was a wind dragon, his scales were a shade of emerald green, not pear green like an earth dragon.

I guess Helm really was a novice after all.

We only had this dragon at the moment, so Helm was riding with me, he sat behind me and held on my shoulders.

"Yeah, if only it was a girl…."

"Hmm? Did you say something?"

"Nothing, well here we go!"

As we soared through the sky I felt an unyielding wave of nostalgia.

This is too much, I should finish up this quest and head back to Axel as soon as possible.

We landed a good distance from the dragon's nest, if it was asleep then we should avoid waking it up.

As I had thought, the ancient gold dragon lived in a cave, but what was strange is that there was still plenty of gold ore in this cave, there was no reason for this dragon to head outside, so why was it rampaging during the day?

Behind me, Helm clutched his spear, he looked nervous for some reason.

"Oi lose the spear, if that dragon thinks we are coming to kill it, it will attack us as soon as we see it."

"Huh? Oh well okay then, senpai."

Helm left his spear on the ground.

"Lose the helmet too."

"What? Why?"

"It's easier to trust someone when they aren't masking their face."

"You don't trust me?"

"Not me, the dragon, if it's awake then we need to appear as non hostile as possible if we want to survive."

"Ohh I see, I guess that makes sense."

Removing his helmet, Helm looked even more nervous, he rubbed the pendant he was wearing and held his helmet tightly.

"Why are you afraid? Aren't you a dragon knight too? Seeing an ancient gold dragon shouldn't faze you."

"Yeah umm about that…"

Helm removed his chest plate and pulled down his shirt.

I'm not interested in a man's chest thank you.

"I was injured by a dragon before, so I guess I'm still kinda nervous around them."

Oh I see, there was a scar on his chest.

Cool story about being injured by a dragon, but I can tell that it wasn't a dragon that left that scar. I bet he made it up on the spot to sound cooler to me.

Are you secretly a crimson demon? Please don't go and make some sort of loud introduction in front of the dragon, or shout about forbidden seals.

* * *

"I don't understand…."

I had spent the last three days observing the ancient gold dragon whenever it showed up but….

"This makes no sense, why is that dragon attacking a farm? Gold dragons eat ore and not animals."

Today I witnessed the dragon doing something against it's nature.

It had always been doing things like that in the past few days.

First off, instead of staying in it's nest, this dragon would roam around constantly during the day.

Second off all, it seemed to attack at random and I'm not just talking about towns, it also randomly attacked monsters and set fire to trees for seemingly no reason.

I had thought that maybe it was injured and needed help, but from what i've seen it's in perfect health.

Today Helm and I were hiding a safe distance away from the large beast, watching as it layed waste to some poor farmer.

"Forget observing, we need to save those farmers!" Helm declared as he stepped out into the open with his spear in hand.

"That's pointless, it's impossible to beat something like that."

"Huh? But as a dragon knight of this country I have to at least try and defend its people. I will not back down!"

Helm rushed towards the ancient gold dragon.

Well he's dead.

I'm not going to do something stupid like jump out of safety to rescue some guy I just met.

If he wanted to be a hero then so be it.

I watched as Helm ran towards the dragon…

He leapt up and thrusted his spear at it's neck.

As if that will work, a gold dragon's scales are tougher than any armor a human could wear.

If you wanted to even hurt it you should first get something way more powerful, like that holy sword Calibur or something.

Huh?

With a low growl, the ancient gold dragon hastily flew away after Helm's attack.

Why would it fly away?! Helm's spear didn't even penetrate it's skin, it shouldn't even be hurt at all.

I could see some figures in the distance run up to Helm and begin to thank him, they were probably the farmers he had saved.

I swear, if there's a busty beauty there I'm going to be really pissed.

That aside, I've come to the conclusion that this dragon makes absolutely no sense at all.

"Rein-kun! Welcome home! You are probably tired after all that hard work, dinner will be ready shortly, so just relax for now."

Acting as if we were a married couple, princess Liana greeted me when I returned to the castle.

"I heard that you and Helm managed to drive off the dragon from attacking, as expected of my knight, nothing fazes you!"

Liana looked at me with glittering eyes, she was probably imagining me going up against that beast.

Well it was partially true so I won't deny it.

Surprisingly Helm didn't correct her.

"I should go report to the king." Helm said, removing his helmet.

"There is no need."

Right on cue, the king arrived, followed by Zorn, Amelda and the princess.

He patted Helm's shoulder.

"I heard all about your brave and selfless act in driving off the dragon and saving the farms. Good work Helm, clearly you deserve to be a dragon knight."

Why is that newbie getting the praise? If it was any other dragon he'd be killed.

After congratulating Helm, the king glared at me.

What did I do wrong?

"Rein…. I didn't hear any news about you, were you cowering in fear while Helm took on the dragon?"

Cowering in fear? That was an ancient gold dragon for crying out loud! Helm survived by pure dumb luck, don't paint him as some hero.

"I wasn't going to act hastily and risk dying."

"So you were cowering in fear, well then."

I was not cowering in fear! I'm actually working hard for once okay, at least show some appreciation.

"I suppose Helm should receive all credit for his feat."

"Hold on your majesty, I did learn quite a bit from Rein-senpai."

"Oh? But so far I have not heard any news of Rein doing anything worth while."

This guy….

"It is clear that Helm can handle the dragon on his own. Zorn, Amelda, I want Rein gone by tomorrow!"

Zorn and Amelda exchanged glances, they reluctantly moved to escort me back to Axel.

"Wait!"

It was the princess would stopped them.

"Father, I don't believe that Rein was just wasting time, he was loved by dragons since birth and demonstrated great talent even for someone with the dragon knight class. No one else is better suited for this task than him."

Liana once again looked at her father with pleading eyes.

"My beloved daughter, I have already given Rein enough chances. He's clearly shown that he no longer possesses his skills as a dragon knight and is now useless."

"Father, I beg you, please give him one last chance to prove himself, I know he can do it."

The king's gaze shifted from Liana to me, then back to her.

"Fine then. Rein, go to the dragon's nest right now, either kill the dragon or get it to stop attacking our land."

"Are you crazy?! It's far too early for that, I still have no clue why the dragon is acting up. I need more time."

"You are out of time! If you can't subdue the dragon right now, then leave Gaudveil and never come back!"

As usual, royalty would not listen to reason.

I could leave right now but...

"Can you at least lend me a spear and a set of armor?"

"Oh, you can borrow-"

Helm was about to offer me his spear, but the king stopped him.

"You are in no position to make demands! Leave now before I decide to execute you for kidnapping Liana back then!"

After yet another reminder of why I hated royalty, I was kicked out of the castle.

Now with nothing but my usual clothes and the sword Liana gave me, I had to walk to my destination.

* * *

I spent the night tiredly hiking through the country to get to the cave where the ancient gold dragon's nest was located.

I borrowed a torch from a nearby town and made my way into the cave.

Bits of gold ore shone brightly as I trekked deeper into the cave.

I was nearing the place where Helm and I spotted the dragon on our first tracking quest.

Slowly I approached the nest…

…

There is was, sleeping in the darkness, the ancient gold dragon.

Large enough to carry an entire squad of knights on it's back, and covered from head to tail in gold scales.

I approached it slowly.

I couldn't possibly kill this thing, I was not royalty, so my only option was to try and communicate with it and see what was troubling it.

Huh?

I could have sworn I heard more footsteps behind me, was someone following me?

Whatever, i'll worry about it later.

Right now I was only a few steps away from the dragon, it was curled up into a giant ball and fast asleep.

As I approached it sensed my presence and woke up.

Raising its head, the dragon stared at me with two large green eyes.

I saw no sign of hostility in its eyes, it was on alert, but not about to attack.

To further show that I meant no harm, I removed my sword from it's sheath and slowly set it on the ground.

As I did so, I noticed that the dragon was curled around what looked like eggs.

So this was a female and it was raising young…

Wait a second! That makes even less sense now, why would it leave it's nest and attack human settlements if it had eggs to look after? This is the strangest dragon I've ever met.

Now I was curious, I approached the dragon, who had settled down after I left my sword behind.

It was no longer on alert, rather it also seemed curious as to why I was here.

It had still had no sign of hostility in its eyes as it laid back down, going back to sleep.

I circled the dragon, checking for any signs of wounds on it, or anything that might cause it to go berserk.

Nothing, it's scales were untouched and it showed no sign of being poisoned.

Strange…

"Gahh!"

Without warning, the dragon swung one of it's arms at me, I was sent flying across the nest.

"Oww…"

That really hurt! What was that for?

It had left huge open gashes in my right arm as well as my torso.

"GROOOOOOOHHHH!"

The dragon was now fully awake, it flailed about, thrashing the place, slamming itself against the walls of it's nest and trampling over it's own eggs.

I struggled to get myself back on my feet, but before i could get to safety, I was hit hard by the dragon's tail.

This time I was struck in the back and landed on my face.

The gashes in my chest hurt like hell! Did some dirt get in there?

I can't get up! No matter how hard I try I can't get up!

Am I going to die here? I thought I could forget my connection with dragons, in the end i'm going to be killed by one.

Well I guess it wouldn't be the first time…

Wait a second, last time I died, the goddess Eris said that everyone only gets one resurrection.

That means that if I die here….

Dammit! If I die at least let me die with my face buried in big voluptuous breasts!

I'll die! I don't want to die! Not yet! Not now!

With the dragon thrashing about, the cave had begun to collapse.

I was either going to be mauled to death, or caved in.

I'll be dead for sure.

I looked up at the crumbling ceiling.

If this is the result of hard work, then forget it! This always happens to me! Screw working hard! It never pays off!

"...ust!"

Huh?

For a moment I thought I heard someone call my name.

* * *

Where am I?

My head hurts, did I drink too much and pass out yesterday?

No that can't be, getting drunk doesn't make your arm numb, does it?

Oh wait I remember now, I travelled back to my home country, where the king pressured me into taming an ancient gold dragon.

I thought I had died, I'm not in the afterlife am I? This doesn't feel like the afterlife.

I was lying down on something soft..

Please be the lap of a beauty, please be the lap of a beauty!

I opened my eyes and was somewhat disappointed to find myself lying on a fancy bed.

"Rein-kun! You're finally awake!"

Unable to contain herself, the princess leapt onto my bed and embraced me.

Well this feels nice too but it also hurts… actually it really hurts! I'm still recovering you know!

Actually how did I get here, I thought for sure I'd have died by now.

"Princess…"

"Oh Rein, I'm so sorry you had to go through all that."

"Princess…."

"I won't let you do something as dangerous like that again"

"Princess!"

"Hmm?"

"What am I doing here? Last thing I remember I was in the dragon's nest."

"..."

Liana stared at me confused, then made an expression as if to say 'oh right!'

Did she forget why I left?

Liana got off of me and left the room, I could hear she shouting down the hallway.

"He's awake! Dust is awake!"

A few moments later, Liana returned followed by many familiar faces.

Taylor, Keith, Lynn, Yunyun and for some reason Megumin too.

"What are you guys doing here?! Don't tell me you want a share of my quest reward, cause you aren't getting any."

The faces of everyone present turned sour, except for Liana, who muttered "huh?"

"What are you saying? First off shouldn't you be more grateful?! We came all the way from Axel because we were worried."

"Besides, weren't you dragged away against your will? Why are you suddenly taking a quest in another country?"

"What are you doing accepting impossibly hard quests anyways?"

"You really should be more grateful, the only reason you are still among the living is because Yunyun used teleport to bring us all back to the castle as soon as you were knocked out."

"Dust-san is the worst."

"Why would I be grateful? The only reason i'm here is because none of you wanted to loan me money I was dragged away!"

"If you would work hard for once you wouldn't have this problem. No forget that, why are you really here?" Lynn asked.

"That again? I'm just stuck here that's all, I got a room and free meals already so scram, go back to Axel or something."

I did my best to brush Lynn off, but she was incredibly persistent.

Watching all this unfold, the princess muttered "This side of Rein-kun is interesting…"

Lynn wouldn't stop pestering me, while the others had started glancing between Lynn and Liana.

"U-umm Megumin, is it just me, or does that noble lady look alot like Lynn-san?"

"Yes, it really is a shocking resemblance."

"You guys noticed it too? Well that's the crimson demons for you. They catch on pretty fast, right Taylor?"

"Mmmhmm."

Lynn must have overheard them, because she stopped arguing with me and stared at Liana.

Does she not know her own face?

"You are that noble lady from before, Lana right? Why did you send Dust on such a dangerous quest?"

"U-umm well."

Liana nervously glanced at me, she was probably worried about keeping my identity secret.

Well I did make a big deal out of it before, so I guess that's the natural reaction.

"Hey Lynn, quit bothering the noble lady, shouldn't you be more worried about me?"

"As if, all I want is for you to pay me back for all the money you borrowed from me."

"Ohohoho! Tsundere, sadly your looks don't really match that personality, you need some twintails and blonde hair to match your coy side."

"Who would ever be tsundere with you? No forget that, why don't you tell me what happened in the past? It's obvious these noble people know you from before, what are you trying to hide?"

She back at it again, why can't she just give it a rest?

"What is there to hide? I just committed even larger crimes when I was younger that's all."

"As convincing as that sounds, that still doesn't explain why they would send you on a quest, it would make more sense if they just put you to the sword."

"GAHH!"

"What are you doing? Don't just suddenly shout like that, you gave me a fright! What's going on!"

Sword! I had forgotten all about my sword!

What happened to it? Think, come on think…. I left it in the dragon's nest….

"Did any of you happen to pick up my sword on the way back?!"

"How could we? That dragon was causing so much destruction it was a miracle we could even reach you."

No! I can't believe I lost that sword.

"Liana-sama! I'm so sorry, I lost the sword you gave me. Ow!"

Even with my bandaged body I tried to prostrate myself before the princess.

"Don't worry Rein-kun, i'm just glad you are safe and sound, I'm not upset at all."

"Ahh, thank you Liana-sama."

"Umm there really isn't a need for sama."

"Hey isn't this a bit strange?"

Oh I forgot about Lynn and the others, I just went out of character in front of them all…

Lynn was whispering to Megumin and Yunyun.

"I've never seen Dust act this way before, are you sure we didn't pick up a doppelganger?"

"A doppelganger huh, like the one in Elroad…"

"U-umm, perhaps my Light Of Saber can be of use here."

"Oh! Good idea Yunyun, we'll cut off this thing's arm off and see if human blood comes out."

"Ahh, but if it's Dust-san maybe he wasn't human to begin with."

These girls really liked to run their mouths.

"Are you a bunch of sadists? How could you possibly think of attacking me when I'm in this state?"

"Ahh he's right, very well then well just make a small cut, Taylor, Keith can you hold out Dust's good arm? Yunyun, make just a small cut with your magic please."

"Wait what? Hey! No! Let go of me! You better remember this! All of you! When I'm rich and powerful I'll make you all repent for what you are doing!"

Yunyun stopped mid-chant.

"This attitude…. This has to be the real Dust-san."

Lynn nodded

"Yes, it seems we got the real one."

"Good so you've finally come to your senses, though I'm not ready to forgive you just yet, first I want you to lie on top of me, gently caress my face and ask for forgiveness"

"Right! You can't move now, so sit right there and i'll put you six feet under."

"Hey hey! Stop it, it was just a joke alright. It's not like I was secretly planning to feel the sensation of your chest or anything, not that there was anything to feel in the first place."

"Lightning!"

"Yahhhhh!"

"Rein-kun! Hold on I got this, heal! Heal! Heal!"

If not for Liana jumping in, I probably would have lost consciousness again.

"I can't believe you! You would still cast magic on me in this state! No forget that, Liana did you just use heal? Why didn't you do that from the beginning?"

Liana was a princess after all, even though the royalty of Gaudveil was not as overpowered as the royalty of Belzerg, she was still able to heal the damage from Lynn's lightning as well as all my other wounds from the dragon.

"Hmm? I told you that father had me learn healing magic didn't I? Wait hold on, did I overdo it?"

She started patting my bandaged arm.

"What are you doing now? How could you overdo healing magic? Don't tell me there are possible negative effects of casting heal…"

I didn't feel weird or anything, in fact I was feeling much better than before.

Despite my wounds now being perfectly healed, Liana looked worried.

"U-umm no it's not that, rather I didn't want for you to be completely healed right away….."

What was she doing now?

Liana made a lonely expression, I think I saw the same expression once on princess Iris…

Did all princess have the same problems?

"W-well you see, since you couldn't complete the quest, father doesn't want you around anymore so as soon as you recovered he was going to kick you out. So I umm, I told him that I couldn't fully heal your wounds and convinced him to let you stay a while longer to recover."

I see where this is going.

"So umm, can you at least pretend to be injured? I know you probably want to get back to Axel, but can I ask that you stay with me for a bit longer? We will provide you with everything you need so don't leave just yet."

Yeah there it is, Liana still had that side of her, but this time she was giving me a choice on whether or not I would stay..

I could tell she definitely felt lonely in this castle, knowing how overprotective her father was, I bet she hardly ever got the chance to go outside.

I thought that Zorn and Amelda had kept her company while I was gone, but I guess the king didn't want anyone getting close to her again after what I did.

Well I'm not complaining, I'm going to get a free stay in a castle, I'll get to lay around all day and have high quality food delivered to me by cute maids.

Hooray for me!

"What are you saying? If you spoil this man any further he's only going to get worse."

Don't ruin this for me Lynn, I'm serious now, I won't forgive you if you do.

"What are you saying, after everything Rein-kun has gone through he deserves to be spoiled a bit."

"Rein?…."

"Ahh! Uhh... I meant Dust-kun."

Liana had let slip my name again, now Lynn's face turned serious, she brought her face closer to Liana's while looking her in the eye.

She then turned to me.

"How long are you two going to keep this farce going? It's obvious you are hiding something, why can't you just tell us."

"I would be glad to tell you but umm, Rein?"

Hey aren't you the princess? Why are you asking me for permission?

"Denied."

"What do you mean denied? What's so important that you have to hide it from your companions?"

"Don't empathize our bond as companions in times like this!"

"Hey that's my line! Forget that, we aren't leaving you to laze around in a castle by yourself."

At that, Liana waved her hand in front of Lynn to get our attention.

"Umm, if you like I can arrange for all of you to stay with Rein-kun for a while."

Lynn did not look pleased at all, however on the sidelines, Keith jumped with joy.

"Wait really! So I get to stay in a room usually meant for nobles?! Will there also be cute maids serving me each day? Ow!"

Taylor shut Keith up with a good smack on his head.

"Sorry about my companion, there is no need to trouble yourself with us."

"Oh no, it's no trouble at all, I don't get the chance to meet new friends so I really don't mind if you all stay."

At the mention of friends, the lonely one was also ensnared by Liana's offer.

"A-ahh, I can understand, u-umm the part about friends that is. I want to make more friends so I guess I can stay."

Liana seems to have struck Yunyun's weakness.

"No! I won't let you laze around and become a shut-in like Kazuma! Come on! We need to go on adventures to faraway lands so that my name: Megumin, the master of explosions will spread to countries all across….. The world….. Hey wait a second, if I stay here I'll make a name for myself outside of Belzerg… Alright then it is decided, we will stay."

Megumin seemed against it at first, but she somehow managed to convince herself without anyone else saying a word.

All that was left was Taylor and Lynn.

"Well aside from Dust, we have all been working hard with quests recently. I guess it's fine for us to have a little vacation."

"It seems that everyone else agrees, so it would be rude of us to decline, sure we will stay."

Liana clapped her hands together.

"Perfect! I'll go make the arrangements right away!"

Well it looks like i'll be here for a while, sleeping on the comfiest bed and leveling up from eating high quality food.

Cheers for my good fortune!

* * *

**Intermission: Going After that Worthless Delinquent**

Taylor, Keith and I quietly followed Dust and that noble party throughout Axel.

Keith was observing them using his farsight skill, he was really useful when it came to tailing others.

As it turns out, Dust was faking being dragged away because we found him boarding a floating carriage by his own volition.

"Hey wait a second, if they are in a floating carriage…."

As soon as Keith spoke, the carriage took off at immense speeds.

"You just had to open your mouth…"

We lost sight of Dust instantly.

* * *

Without any other plans, we returned to the guild.

"Waitress! One salad please!"

Huh strange, normally Dust would be here to piggyback off my order, it sure felt different without him around.

Taylor and Keith ordered their own meals, without Dust around everything went pretty smoothly for us.

"Say, do you think we'll see Dust again?" Keith asked

As great as that sounds, I know Dust wouldn't be gone for long.

"Dust is like a cockroach, no matter how hard you try to get rid of him he always comes back."

"Yeah I guess it's true, he does manage to come through for us every now and then though."

I guess with him gone, even Taylor had to admit he was an okay party member every now and then.

"Besides, we all know how much of a scumbag Dust is, so there is no chance of him catching us off guard."

I guess our previous experience with a temporary member was still fresh in Taylor's mind.

"Nooo stop saying that!"

There was commotion in the corner of the guild.

The two crimson demons, Megumin and Yunyun were quarrelling over something.

Megumin must have said something to irritate Yunyun, because Yunyun was shaking Megumin non stop.

So they were still here huh, I thought they would have gone on a quest after we left to follow Dust.

"What are you doing! Stop pulling my robe! If you act like this around normal people it's no surprise that you can't make any friends!"

"Megumin is nowhere near normal!"

"Jeez what is with that attitude, everyone is different in their own right. I see you still haven't grown past your high standards when it comes to people."

"The only thing that isn't growing around here is your chest!"

"..."

"... Ahhh."

Both of them went silent at the same time, Yunyun must have hit a touchy subject.

"I see you no longer want to live..."

"Now Megumin, I really didn't mean that."

"Allow me to give you a more aerodynamic form by removing those useless flabs of fat..."

"Ahh! Stop! I'll apologize! So stop pulling my breasts!"

"I'll tear them off! I'll tear off those absurdly large breasts that you shouldn't have grown!"

"Noooo! Stop! It hurts it hurts!"

Taylor, Keith and I all watched this strange spectacle.

"Umm, should we do something?"

"That's just their usual rival act, leave them be."

Huh, even Keith had grown used to them, I didn't think anyone but Dust could get used to that behavior.

Well anyways Luna went over to break up the fight, and as soon as that was done Megumin looked our way.

She was the one who claimed that Dust was the dragon knight from the story so maybe she wanted to ask us more about him.

"Did you manage to catch up with the thing that lazes around all day?"

"No, he and the nobles got in a magic carriage and sped off."

"Oh that's too bad, Yunyun here still doesn't believe that Dust could be the dragon knight so I was hoping you'd find something that will help me convince her."

"What Megumin says can't be true, please stop trying to ruin the story I value so much!"

Oh so they were arguing over that again.

"Say, how come I haven't seen Kazuma around lately?" Keith wondered

"Kazuma? That guy froze himself in his room saying it's too hot to go outside. What a sorry excuse for an adventurer."

"That must be nice."

Ignoring Keith who was now daydreaming, I had to ask more about Kazuma, I mean he seems like a good guy.

"Kazuma probably just wants a break from adventuring."

"That's not it, that guy will use anything as an excuse to shut himself in whether it be rain, snow or heat."

"It's not bad to have a little R&R every now and then."

"Adventurers like us do not have time for R&R while the demon king is out there! Say now that Dust is gone how about letting Yunyun in your party?"

Megumin suddenly shifted the topic

"E-ehh! M-Megumin! Where did that come from?! U-ummm Lynn-san I would like to join your party, if you don't mind of course…"

"Yunyun in our party!? Hell yes! Imagine all the high difficulty quests we could take! The rewards too!"

Keith was definitely excited

"Having two mages in a party wouldn't be a good party composition, but since it's you I don't think there will be a problem."

Taylor wasn't against the idea either, I mean who could pass up Yunyun? Yunyun was famous for being possibly the most powerful mage in Axel, sadly she doesn't seem to like working with other people so we generally leave her alone.

"We'll be glad to have you Yunyun."

"And that's not all! Because you'll also get me! The welder of explosion magic!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Yunyun was one thing, but explosion magic….

"Gahh! Megumin! Why are you throwing yourself in all of a sudden!"

"Is it that much of a surprise? Aren't we friends? We should be in the same party."

"Don't try to pass yourself as my friend just because no other party would accept you! besides we are rivals!"

Taylor placed a hand on Yunyun's shoulder.

"Sorry Yunyun, but we really don't have a need for two more mages."

"Ahh, n-no it's fine I understand…"

A depressed looking Yunyun turned to leave.

I don't get it, if she is looking for a party why doesn't she just team up with Kazuma's girls?

"Hey Megumin, why don't you just invite Yunyun to your party to replace Kazuma?"

That brought Yunyun's spirits back up, but Megumin shook her head.

"That won't work, with Kazuma lazing about Aqua has found alot of free time on her hands, so she went to the local Axis cultists to start harassing the Eris church. As for Darkness well she's staying in the mansion doing house chores while having fun stubbing her toe repeatedly on the washroom door or forcing water down her windpipe. So i'm out here alone looking for my own party."

Guess some people don't want to sit idly by when they could be making a name for themselves.

Taylor began to reconsider bringing the crimson demons along.

"Well we don't have any quests lined up, but if we find something then we'll come find you."

"Weren't you going to go after your delinquent companion?"

"Dust? well …"

The three of us exchanged glances

Did we really want to go find Dust?

"I guess despite everything else Dust is still our companion, so maybe we should be looking out for him?"

"Even so, how are we going to find him? We have no idea where he may have went."

"Why not start by travelling to Gaudveil? I think I heard them mention that country."

Gaudveil was a few days away by carriage.

The fee for traveling there would cost us quite a bit too.

Was Dust really worth that much?

Seeing us ponder, Megumin smiled, she lowered her head so that her hat hid her face.

"It seems you have decided on a quest of your own. I will tag along as well, you won't have to worry about pay, I am satisfied as long as I get to add more pages to the book of my adventures."

"How rude! I know you want someone to accompany you outside of the town so you can cast explosion but you can't just barge in on other people's business like that! U-umm sorry Lynn-san, Taylor-san, Keith-san, but if you don't mind can Megumin and I join your p-p-party?"

"Sure we don't mind, right?"

Taylor asked

"Of course not."

"No objections here either."

And so we welcomed Yunyun and Megumin as temporary members of our party and left for Gaudveil.

* * *

**A/N:** So it is decided that Megumin and Yunyun will be here to stay, I was wondering if I could somehow fit Lolisa into the story as well but I think it's fine the way it is. Dust is probably going to go out of character a few times, but i'll try my best to have him keep his usual scummy personality.


	4. Vacation With These Companions of Mine

**Vacation With These Companions of Mine**

There was a gentle knock on the door, one that was not loud or ear piercing, it was just enough to be noticed by someone who was awake.

As someone living a high class life like mine, a knock this early could only be from a butler.

"Rein-sama, Are you awake? I'm here to bring you breakfast."

"Yes, come in!"

As excepted, an elderly man with well groomed hair entered, pushing a breakfast cart.

I could smell the pleasant aroma steaming from the cart.

A high quality meal in bed, what a perfect way to start the day!

"Today's breakfast is griffon noodle soup, since you are still recovering we made sure that all the vegetables are properly diced so that they won't do much if they try to attack you."

Well I'm actually fully recovered, but I couldn't let this butler know that.

"Ahh thank you."

The pieces of griffon meat was very tasty, the vegetables were boiled to a point where they were soft and the warm soup felt great washing down my throat.

As someone who mostly ate prison food for the past few years, this was a taste of heaven!

I've missed having food like this.

"Dust-kun! How are you feeling?"

A cheerful Liana came bursting into the room.

"You really don't need to use that name you know."

"But your companions might be listening. Besides I think Dust is a great name."

Oh right my party was staying here too, along with Yunyun and Megumin.

I could already see Megumin being nothing but an explosion of problems.

Hopefully Yunyun can take care of it, I don't want my hard earned vacation ruined by these interlopers who followed me from Axel.

"You know, you've already called me Rein in front of them several times now, I'm sure they already suspect something."

"Ehh?! Oh right I did."

"Hey don't make that dejected look, I guess sooner or later the truth will come out. No seriously please stop making that face, what if someone sees it!"

Forget my party members, if the king or someone under his employ sees the princess in such a state my head will roll.

Since meeting her again, Liana always seems to feel down everytime I criticize something she does, so maybe I should take it easy and just enjoy my time here.

"Hey if you have the time, should we go for a stroll around the capital? It's been a long time since I was last here so there's a lot I want to see."

"No sorry, I have lessons to attend too, besides father won't let me leave the castle unless I have a really important reason."

Hmm things have really changed then. Back when I was her bodyguard, princess Liana was allowed to roam freely as long as I was with her.

Did the king somehow become even more overprotective of Liana?

In the company of Liana and the butler, I had the most wonderful breakfast in years.

Once I was finished, both Liana and the butler left me alone, I lay in my bed with a full belly.

"Ahh, a warm meal really helps you relax."

I stretched my arms and shut my eyes, I guess I'll take a nap now.

"Are you just going to lie there all day?"

I don't know how long I spent napping, but I was woken up by a booming loud voice.

What was the king Gaudveil doing here?

And why do you feel the need to have an entire group of armed knights following you in your own castle?

"I noticed Liana has been looking sad lately. What did you do to my daughter?"

"Why do you assume I did something?"

"Why not? Liana was happy living here on her own, so clearly you must have done something."

"Well I haven't, for your information I have absolutely nothing against Liana. Now if you'll excuse me I need to rest up so I can recover."

"Mind your manners Rein and what do you mean rest? Its just past noon. You should be fully awake now."

"I don't have any reason to be. After all I'm far too hurt to continue with that dragon quest."

"I thought so, that's why I sent Helm to deal with it."

What? He gave that impossible level quest to a rookie like Helm?

Oh good, so it's out of my hands then, though there was no way Helm could complete such a quest, he'll either be heavily injured or killed. If Helm survives, then maybe he'll learn from this experience and if he dies then maybe the king will think twice about underestimating dragons..

In the meantime I can relax easily knowing that in a few days, this country will need my help again.

There is no way an amateur knight like Helm could tame an ancient gold dragon, especially not one as mad as the one terrorizing this country.

"You only injured your upper body right? Then go outside for a walk, clearly your presence in the castle is making Liana depressed."

What? That doesn't even make sense, I don't emit some kind of negative aura.

"You know what maybe I will if it means getting away from you."

"Good, looks like we see eye to eye for once. Leave immediately so I don't have to bother with your presence in my castle!"

"Hey don't just order me around, I'm not one of your subjects anymore, I'll leave if I feel like it."

"If you continue to talk back to me like that I'll have your head."

"I'll leave now."

* * *

"Argh!"

As soon as I was out of the castle I shouted

I really wanted to punch someone, that king always rubs me the wrong way.

Who does he think he is, threatening to execute anyone who speaks against him.

I bet the only reason he is king is because he killed the competition.

Yeah that's it, in my mind that king is no different than the devil king.

Actually I don't really have a problem with the devil king, so this king is even below him.

Off in the distance, a loud explosion filled the sky.

"W-what's going on?!"

"Are we under attack?"

"Emergency! Emergency! All adventurers report to the guild immediately! Everyone else stay in your homes!"

Everyone around me panicked, well it's not everyday you hear explosions in the capital.

I however was as calm as ever because I knew exactly what the source of the explosion was.

For causing such a disturbance she'll be spending the day in a cell if she's caught.

I have no reason to help her out, so let's just walk the other way and pretend nothing happened.

The entire capital was in panic for a good hour, adventurers and soldiers were dispatched to the capital's walls to stand guard or to search for the mysterious source of the explosion.

They were already living in fear of their lives with that dragon rampaging about, so the explosion must have really shook them even further.

Oh well, not my problem.

The streets were empty for a while, but soon merchants and other people started coming back out.

I wandered around the shopping street, after all this was the capital so everything here was high quality.

I obviously didn't have much money on me, so I went around looking for free samples of food. In a place like this, one could easily find enough samples for a free meal.

Free things are the best things in life.

As I was going around happily savoring

bits of food and kindly declining the offer to buy more…

"This place is amazing! The women here are all dressed splendidly too!"

"You… Well they do look pretty nice, I wonder if I'll be able to buy a new outfit from here."

"It really is much livelier than Axel."

I found Keith, Lynn and Taylor, gazing around with awe like a bunch of tourists.

Well since I didn't have anything else to do, I guess I'll go join them. I'll even offer some supportive words to Lynn.

"Oh you are buying a new outfit? How about getting one that shows off your shoulders and reveals some of your chest?"

"What sort of nonsense are you spouting after appearing out of the blue?"

For a moment there, it looked like Keith was going to agree with me, but he shut up as soon as Lynn opened her mouth.

"Hey I'm just giving you some advice as a trusty companion."

"I don't need fashion advice from someone like you and since when were you ever a 'trusty' companion? Aren't you the one always getting into trouble?"

"Hey I've bailed you guys out of trouble before…. I think…"

There has to be one time right?

"Oh right! That one time when you guys recruited a bad party member. I was the one who saved your sorry asses."

"True, but if you hadn't gotten arrested in the first place we wouldn't have needed a new member. Speaking of which I'm not bailing you out if you get arrested here."

"Me neither."

Even though I gave a perfect example of my reliability, Lynn and Keith did not appear convinced in the slightest.

"You don't have to worry, I'm not planning on getting arrested here. If anyone's getting arrested it's that explosion loli."

If Megumin made use of Yunyun's teleport then she probably got away safely, if not she's going to have trouble.

"Oh right, I did notice Yunyun and Megumin heading out earlier." Lynn recalled

"Forget about them, let's go explore this new country."

I was not about to take on the responsibility of babysitting Megumin, only Kazuma could perform such a task.

My party members all stared at me.

"What?"

"I can't believe you, you do realize it's thanks to Yunyun that we were able to bring you back alive. We welcomed them into our party as temporary members so we should at least make sure they are okay."

What are we a tour group?

"Well then, have fun with that."

I'm not wasting my time looking for Megumin and Yunyun.

"This guy… Hey Keith, Taylor, if we let him out of our sight he'll definitely cause more trouble."

"If you're going to say things like that at least whisper! Hey wait, what are you guys doing? I'm hurt you know! Don't pull!"

"Didn't that Lana lady heal you yesterday? You are perfectly fine, stop pretending and come with us!"

* * *

In the end, I was forced to tag along by sheer brute force.

"Hey, do you guys even know where you are going?"

They should all be unfamiliar with this city, yet Lynn, Taylor and Keith were all heading to the same place.

"Of course, Yunyun registered her teleport point just outside the walls in this direction."

Ahh so they are assuming that Yunyun bailed Megumin out using Teleport.

No wonder the explosion came from the opposite side of the city, I guess the intelligence stats of the crimson demons isn't just for show.

"I can't believe you'd do such a thing! Is your intelligence stat just for show?! Should we really be calling you the number one idiot of the crimson demon clan!?"

As if on cue, we found Yunyun, who was carrying an exhausted Megumin on her back.

"As an adventurer I must defend the people from threats such as monsters."

"I don't want to hear that from someone who used explosion on a single kobold and made the whole city run in panic! Why did I agree to come along when you said we'd go out for a stroll like friends."

"Hey don't say that out loud! If we get arrested here you'll become a criminal like Trash and be unable to make friends."

"Hey! My name is Dust! And don't put me in the same boat as Yunyun, I have friends."

Much like Kazuma's party priest, Megumin didn't bother remembering my name and still referred to me as "Trash" every now and then.

"Ahh! Dust-san! Lynn-san! Taylor-san and Keith-san too."

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be recuperating?"

"I should but well… say do you have any interest in using explosion on a tyrannical king?"

"What are you saying? Dust-san, please don't bring Megumin into your criminal acts!"

For some reason Yunyun was against the idea.

"Vanquishing a tyrannical lord with explosion definitely sounds appealing….."

"Tyrannical or not! If you blow up any king you'll end up causing huge problems! As the chief of the crimson demon clan, I can't have you starting wars with other nations."

"It's a shame I already used explosion today, I guess it will have to wait till tomorrow."

"Megumin! Look I'll accompany you on your routine everyday while we are here, so please don't do something so reckless!"

"Oh? Is that a promise? Very well then."

Looks like my idea was brought down by Yunyun.

Oh well, it was worth a shot.

* * *

"Say, didn't we agree to treat our stay here as a vacation? Why are we visiting the guild!?"

After regrouping with Megumin and Yunyun, we stumbled upon the Gaudveil capital's adventurer guild.

"Come on Dust, we spend so much time in Axel's guild, wouldn't it be interesting to check out a guild from another country?" Lynn said as she opened the door to the guild

The building itself wasn't much larger than the guild building in Axel, I don't think there would be anything to see in there.

I considered just leaving everyone behind and looking for a pub, but then I remembered I didn't have much money so I stuck with them.

Hopefully I can convince one of them to buy me a drink later.

"Hey Yunyun, I think I can walk on my own now, can you put me down?"

Oh I think I know what's going to happen.

Megumin quickly hurried to the front of the group, once we were all inside the guild she flicked her cape and shouted.

"My name is Megumin! The number one genius of the crimson demon clan who has slain many demon king generals with explosion magic!"

Yeah thought so.

We now had the attention of everyone in the guild

"Crimson demon… adventurers from Belzerg then.."

"What are Belzerg's adventurers doing here? Shouldn't they be fighting the demon king army?"

"Hey don't say that out loud, they might beat you up if they think you are looking down on them."

The adventurers all stared at us briefly but then quickly averted their gazes.

"Hey Megumin, you didn't cause trouble in this guild too, did you?"

It seems that Yunyun experienced something similar in the past

"What are you talking about? I've never even been to this country before! This time I can say for certain that it's not my fault!"

Yeah I'm sure it isn't, It's more because we are from Belzerg, a country known for its strong adventurers.

Since Belzerg is the only thing keeping the demon king army from attacking other kingdoms, it has gained a reputation for being the strongest nation in terms of military might.

That also means that everyone would assume that anyone from Belzerg is a powerful individual.

The adventurers here are probably just afraid of speaking to us after Megumin's big introduction.

Even though we entered as a group, everyone went their own way.

Megumin went to speak with a guild representative, Lynn went to go explore the building, Keith went to find the tavern and Taylor for some reason was checking out the quest board.

Yunyun on the other hand was just standing by the entrance twiddling her thumbs.

"Ahh, what should I do?"

She stood still while fidgeting, I could see her eyes darting around.

I heard Yunyun became the chief of the crimson demons already, but to think she was still like this…

Oh? She seems to have noticed me.

We made eye contact but Yunyun didn't move, she just kept fidgeting and occasionally looking back at me.

Maybe she thinks that since we made eye contact, I'd go over and speak to her. I could do that, but that would make it too easy.

Alright then, if she's watching me then I'll show her how to approach someone.

I walked away from Yunyun and towards Taylor.

"Hey I know you're normally a hardhead, but come on, don't do adventurer work while we are on vacation."

Did you see that Yunyun? That's all you need to do to talk with someone.

However Yunyun looked even sadder now.

"Urf… I'm unwanted…."

She began crying alone by the door.

Oh well I tried my best.

"If you are going to criticize me for being inflexible, then first stop getting arrested all the time. Anyways I'm not going to accept any quests here, I was just curious as to what sort of quests are posted in other countries."

Hmm, now that you mention it, a place like the capital would have some pretty high difficulty quests, but this was not Belzerg, the difficulty of quests should be considerably lower here.

Taylor was going over the quests on the board.

"Caravan protection detail, Harpy subjugation quest, hey aren't these similar to the quests in Axel?"

"It's because Gaudveil is far from the demon king's territory, so naturally the monsters here are weaker and fewer in number."

"Huh?"

"What?"

For some reason Taylor was eyeing me suspiciously.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes of course, this is all common sense. That's why you shouldn't be so stuck up on Axel's knowledge, things are really different out here."

"You know, getting lectured by you feels really off, but I guess you have a point."

Taylor kept skimming through the board.

"That's strange, that noble lady told us that you took a quest to subjugate a dragon, but I can't find any dragon subjugation quests here. Who did you get that quest from anyways?"

"Oh that? Don't worry about it, I heard someone else took it already, maybe that's why it's gone."

As expected of Taylor, once he was done browsing he started asking questions to the guild staff, most of the things he asked for was information on nearby places.

I guess since he's our party leader, he'll take a similar role while we are on vacation.

I stood by Taylor for a bit, but then decided to move on.

Well I was about to when Megumin called out to me.

"Tr-Dust!"

"You almost called me Trash again didn't you?"

"Not at all! Anyways, I have a request, tomorrow I want you to lead me to that dragon from yesterday! One of my underlings earned the title of "dragon slayer" in Elroad, as the boss I must not lose to an underling!"

"Hey don't say stuff like that out loud! Everyone is looking at us now. Besides I got my own plans for tomorrow, go ask Yunyun or someone else."

"Good idea, delinquent who is definitely not a dragon knight."

"Hey what's with that way of speaking? Don't tell me you are actually Sir Vanir. Also please stop telling people that i'm a dragon knight. Hey are you even listening?"

Megumin ignored me and glanced around looking for Yunyun, she was nowhere to be seen.

Perhaps she felt left out and couldn't find the courage to speak to anyone so she left to sulk somewhere.

At least now Megumin is looking for her so she'll have some company, though it may not be the kind she was looking for.

Right now what should I do? Oh I know.

I went to the tavern.

It was a bit early for dinner so there wasn't much people here, plus I could always go back and have dinner at the castle.

So let's just have a drink for now.

"Yooo Keith, what are you doing going off on your own? Aren't we fellow party members?"

I nudged Keith, who was seated with a female adventurer.

The female adventurer in question wore only light leather armor and had a quiver slung across her back. She was also looking at Keith with admiration in her eyes.

It seems like despite his usual bad luck with the ladies, Keith managed to use the fact that he came from Belzerg to start up a conversation with a fellow archer.

As soon as I nudged him, Keith excused himself and took me away.

"Dust, look I'll buy you a drink okay, please don't ruin this for me."

So easy.

Keith ordered me a beer and returned to the side of the female archer.

As a good friend of his, I should do whatever I can to get in his way and part those too.

But first, let me drink this beer Keith paid for.

Ahhh, there is nothing as refreshing as a cold drink paid by someone else's dime!

Okay now what should I do to get in the way of things?

Hmm, Keith smiling while occasionally shyly scratching his head, maybe he's trying to make himself look humble after being flattered.

I know! I'll go over there and reveal something embarrassing about him!

"Hey what's with that look? Are you jealous of Keith or something?"

Just as I was about to put my plan into action, Lynn showed up and took a seat alongside me.

"Ahh Lynn, good timing, what is the most embarrassing thing Keith ever did?"

"Forget asking me, why are you asking about that in the first place? Wait a second, Yunyun told me that back when Taylor was getting along with a girl you were planning on getting in the way. Are you planning something similar?"

"How could I not? It's common practice for friends to get in the way of each other's love life, that way we can make sure the feelings they have are absolute."

Yeah that was the reason why I'm going to mess with Keith, not because I'm jealous that the female adventurer he was talking with had a wonderful bodyline.

"I can't believe how despicable you can be. Sure Keith may not have any more good points than you, but he has almost no luck with any girls back home, so let him have a chance."

Well I guess that last bit is true, Keith's luck with women has been absolutely awful.

But why does he get to speak with a mature beauty! The only women around me have nothing to speak of in between their waists and necks! The only one I can think of is that brat Yunyun, but she's only a child.

"Hey seriously now, why are you acting so jealous over Keith? Don't you have a noble lady waiting for you in a castle?"

We are back to that again huh?

Lynn is pretty sharp when it comes to stuff like this, there were even a few times when I was worried that she might have figured me out.

Normally Lynn won't pester me for long, if something made her suspicious of me she'd say something like "You'll tell me someday, right?" and she'd shut up, but in these past few days she's been doing nothing but pry into me.

I really should get out of here.

"Eh, that was just someone I happened to run into a few times. I really have no idea why she's been doing the things she does."

"And what about Rein? Is that some sort of alias you gave her?"

"Bingo."

I really can't keep this up

"Well if that's the case, there's no problem with me telling her about this conversation."

"Please don't."

It's not everyday I get to spend my nights in a clean and luxurious room for no cost. Please don't say anything that will get me thrown out.

"Say, is there something I'm missing here?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

"First off, since when can a noble family just arrange for adventurers to stay in the royal castle? Second of all, you said you were given a quest to subjugate an ancient gold dragon, but I asked around and apparently that dragon is so powerful it's considered a national crisis. The difficulty of such a quest is unimaginable and the reward would be just as great, so why would they hand it over to some random adventurer from Axel?"

Lynn is still peering into our recent events, I should change the subject as soon as I can.

"Gee I dunno, hmm? What's Yunyun doing over there?"

Just like her usual self, Yunyun found an empty seat in the corner of the tavern and sat there by herself.

"Isn't that normal for her? No don't try and change the subject, you also told Megumin something about being a dragon knight didn't you? Why would you do that?"

"Ehh, I was feeling annoyed by her and said it on a whim, don't look further into it."

"I've always wondered this before, but how come every now and then you start acting like a proper stand up guy?"

"Aren't I always?"

"No your more of a skirt chaser who spends his time engaging in fraudulent activities and sexual harassment. Maybe I'm just seeing things."

As usual, Lynn really likes to trade barbs with me.

But she also said something important, did I ever let my old personality show back in Axel?

I guess there were a few times, but I didn't expect Lynn to pay such close attention.

"Hey hold on, you said there are times when I looked different, since when did you start paying such close attention to me? Do you secretly admire me but are too shy to admit it?"

"There is nothing about you worth admiring. Or rather all your good points end up being buried by your usual criminal acts."

"Ahh so you are saying I have some good points."

"Yes of course, umm, let's see….."

Lynn stroked her chin and looked to the ceiling, as if she was having trouble listing out my good points.

"Hey don't give me that expression, I have many good points, aren't I one of the more reliable and capable adventurers in Axel?"

"Well I guess you are capable, but I can't say the same when it comes to being reliable, in fact I think depending on you would be the equivalent of committing suicide."

"Okay you, stay right there, I'm going to get my revenge for yesterday."

I stood up wiggling my fingers, forget going to the succubus store for a hardcore revenge dream, i'm going to get back at Lynn right here and now.

* * *

Well that short scuffle with Lynn didn't last long, because we got thrown out of the guild as soon as it started.

"Great going Lynn."

"Me? You are the one who started making strange movements with your hands and saying things like "I'll make you regret being born a woman." anyone else in my place would have fought back."

"Don't you normally have a dagger hidden on you? You didn't have to cast lightning and blast a hole in the wall. By the way, I will not lend you any money to pay for the repair bill."

"It's not like you'd have any money to lend and I'll keep in mind that you'd prefer the dagger, next time I'll castrate you well."

"On second thought, please use lightning."

I haven't even had sex yet, so I really don't want to take the risk.

Plus it's Lynn we are talking about here, I'm pretty sure she'd do it without hesitation.

I once made a move on her back in Axel, it was a really close call, I had no idea Lynn could hide a dagger inside her pyjamas.

I never dared to sneak into her bed again after that, luckily for me the succubus shop existed, otherwise I don't know what I would do.

Well since we were kicked out and it was almost dinner time I guess we should head back to the castle.

Liana should have cheered up by now, what was bothering her in the first place?

Well as long as she isn't unhappy.

Let's just hope I don't run into the king again.

"U-umm D-D-Dust."

"What? What is it? Why are you speaking like that? If you are trying to sound cute to make up for what you did, it's not working."

Lynn was trembling and pointing at something in the distance.

"Look!"

The citizens around me were all looking the same direction, they all seemed scared or shocked.

I turned around to see the castle off in the distance.

There was a large golden creature hovering next to it, a creature so large it could carry an entire legion of soldiers on it's back..

I took off at full speed towards the castle.

* * *

Ancient gold dragon.

The strongest species of the strongest type of monster.

Strong enough to crush castle walls and deflect physical attacks, intelligent enough to dodge or withstand magic.

I really have no clue why such a beast was here, or what problem it had with the kingdom.

All I know is, that dragon is nothing like the ones I knew, it didn't seem to act according to reason.

Well I know that not all dragons are intelligent, but this type of dragon should be.

Yet from what I saw, it rampaged for no reason and didn't even care for its young.

I had never seen a dragon trample over it's own eggs before.

Oh well, now was not the time for that, I had lost my sword, but the promise I made was that I would only make do with the sword if I wasn't protecting her.

I could definitely borrow a spear from one of the soldiers at the castl- huh?

The dragon was not attacking, in fact everyone was still calm.

What was going on?

"Citizens of Gaudveil!"

There was a loud broadcast echoing through the streets, it was the king's voice, amplified by magic.

"Our time of crisis is over! Our hero: Helm Sol Jaster, has tamed the savage beast threatening our lands!"

The streets around me erupted in cheers.

So that's why that dragon was here, I guess Helm managed to tame it.

I can't believe this, how could a rookie like Helm tame something as powerful as that?

He couldn't even tell apart the species of dragons, nor did he know how to communicate without showing hostility.

I worked hard trying to tame that thing and nearly died! But a newb like Helm did it that easily?!

This makes no sense!

* * *

There was a banquet held that evening for the new hero of Gaudveil.

Even though we were staying at the castle, we were not allowed to attend it.

Me and my party, along with Megumin and Yunyun ate in a separate room.

"Arghhh! That pisses me off! I'm going to find some way to ruin that banquet."

I stood up but my companions held me back.

"Have you gone crazy Dust?"

"This is a royal banquet, you can't just mess around here."

"Forget being arrested, I'm sure all of our heads would roll if you did something like that."

Knowing the king, such an event might actually happen.

I sat back down and ate my meal.

Alongside me, Keith and Taylor were happily eating the high level meat served in the castle, Lynn was eating a salad, which was still fresh enough to try running away, as for our two crimson demons, Yunyun was doing her best to eat properly using correct table manners while Megumin was wolfing down as much food as she could.

We were nowhere near the banquet hall, but I could guess what was going on from here.

By the way, my sudden dash towards the castle earlier made Lynn even more suspicious, even now I can feel her staring holes into my face.

"Why are you so mad? If you worked hard back in Axel, I'm sure someday you could also have a royal banquet held in your favor."

It's not the banquet I'm mad about.

Besides I did work hard once, I really did, look at where it brought me.

Working hard doesn't pay off in this world of ours, you are either born talented or you find a way to cheat to the top.

I know that better than anyone.

Meanwhile a newb like Helm just goes off and single handedly does something that only I was supposed to be able to do.

All he did was tame a dragon, now he's being hailed as a hero?

If the king hadn't rushed me, I could have done that!

It pisses me off, everything about this place sucks.

"Why are you making that face? Did you eat something weird?"

Stop interrogating me Lynn! I'm not in the mood for it!

"Eww eee nuu."

"Don't try to talk with your mouth full, are you still a child Megumin? ow."

Megumin smacked Yunyun after that statement, then quickly swallowed her food.

"You see, now that the kingdom has gotten another dragon knight, Tr-Dust is now jealous. Are you ready to believe me now?"

"Dust-san is clearly just envious of the banquet, there is no way he can be the dragon knight of legend. I can see him kidnapping a princess, but not for a noble reason like the one in the story."

Megumin was still trying to convince Yunyun that I was the knight.

"Hey, why don't you give it a break."

I really should stop Megumin from saying more about that in front of Lynn.

"Why would I? You are the one who said "no one would believe me" if I told anyone that you were the dragon knight. Clearly that is a challenge, as a crimson demon, I will not back down."

"Yeah yeah I heard it, you said it before. Just quit being a bother."

"Are you looking for a fight? I already casted explosion today but I'm more than capable of beating a low life delinquent in a brawl."

"Am I a delinquent or a knight!? Make up your mind already you one trick pony!"

"I can do much more than just explosion! Watch! I can leap across this table without a running start and strangle you right now!"

"You keep doing acrobatics like that? no wonder you keep your chest is as flat as Lynn's"

I felt Lynn poking me with her staff.

"Why are you dragging my chest into this?! I still have time you grow you know."

"As a master of observing breasts I can say for certain that yours will remain flat forever."

"Right! Megumin hold his mouth open, I'll thrust my staff down his throat and blast him inside out!"

"Leave it to me!"

"Hey stop it! Your ideas are far too grotesque Lynn! In the first place, shouldn't it be a man thrusting something down a woman's throat. OW! hey!"

"Just what sort of disgusting things are you saying!"

"How could you say such a thing to a young girl at the dinner table!"

"Dust-san is the worst"

"I can't believe you can say such things so casually."

"And while we are in a royal castle too.."

Now for some reason, Yunyun, Taylor and Keith joined in as well.

Just then we heard a knock, someone else entered the dining room.

Everyone quickly took their hands off me and stared at the newcomer.

"Please excuse my sudden entrance, I hope you won't mind if I join you for a bit."

Amelda, the mage who was one of the princess' bodyguards came in and sat with us.

We quickly sat back down in our seats and pretended that everything was normal.

She was wearing a rather extravagant dress, complete with an expensive looking gold necklace, she must have been attending the banquet just moments before.

Amelda took an empty seat and began eating with us.

"Why are you here? Did they run out of food at the banquet?"

"Megumin! You are being too rude!"

It seems like Megumin is really cautious when it comes to food.

"No there is plenty of food at the banquet, but well you see, I don't want the other nobles seeing me eat this much. So I hope you will let me dine with you as a fellow mage for a while."

Amelda, who was being incredibly self conscious about her high metabolism, started eating the food at our table.

"What's wrong with eating? Eating is a necessity of life, you should always eat whenever you can because you might not be able to later."

With a Cockatrice leg in one hand, and a Giant Toad leg in the other, Megumin gave her thoughts on eating.

"No wonder Megumin would follow anyone offering her a meal back in the village. Hey that hurts! Stop Megumin!"

"I won't let you cause any misunderstandings about me! I am a powerful archwizard in my growth period and I came from a poor family, so I need to eat lots and lots to grow. Just you wait, in half a year I'll have a body that puts yours to shame!"

Amelda laughed as Megumin throttled Yunyun in front of her.

"Thanks for your words of support, but still as a noble I need to watch myself in front of others. I doubt anyone would want a big eater for a wife."

"Oh that's nonsense, just like how some men prefer young girls or older ladies, there must be some that find big eaters cute in some way."

Perhaps Keith saw an opening, because he suddenly chimed in with his own thoughts.

Keith, if you are thinking about going after Amelda, don't.

According to Liana and Zorn, the reason why Amelda doesn't have a boyfriend is because whenever she goes on a date, she ends up ordering so much food that the bill ends up being too much even for nobles. Since the men have their own pride they still end up paying for everything, but after that they stop seeing her.

Oh well, Keith has been getting more and more desperate of late, so I'll just let it play out and let him learn the hard way.

By the way not even Megumin ate as much as Amelda but it seems like Amelda was more comfortable eating with us than with the other nobles.

I was considering whether or not I should ask her about the banquet but she was too busy stuffing her face with food to speak.

So I'll leave it for a bit.

A while later there was some sort of commotion outside.

"Sir Jaster, I really hope you consider me before anyone else, after all don't you know me the longest?"

"What are you saying? Isn't it common knowledge that the one the hero has known the longest will lose? Jaster-sama should pick me."

"Lord Jaster, if I may, I would like to offer you my daughter's hand in marriage."

"Enough, I get it, you all have your proposals, but can you please leave me be for just a while? Please return to the banquet for now, there is someone I want to speak too."

Following that, Helm rushed into the room and quickly shut the door behind him.

It would seem that his newfound reputation has earned him a harem of noble ladies and a swarm and marriage proposals.

"Oh, Amelda-sama you were here too?"

"Ahh! Hel- err Jaster-sama!"

Still too embarrassed to eat in front of nobles, Amelda quickly pushed her plate in front of Lynn, who stared at her in confusion.

"There is no need for that, I would be happy if you'd just call me Helm like before."

With that, Helm turned his attention to me. What did he want?

"Well if it isn't Gaudveil's new hero! Just what do you want with commoners like us?"

"Please don't be so cold Rein-senpai. Even though I am now the hero of this country, I could not have done it without your teaching."

I didn't teach him much though, all I did was spend about a week tracking the dragon with him. I bet he's just here to act humble and raise his reputation among the nobles who were all waiting outside the door for him.

In fact I could see a few eyes peeking through the door..

Wait hold on a second, there could be another reason why Helm would come and see me.

If he's here for the reason I have in mind, I'm going to be really pissed.

"You're welcome, well if that's all you have to say, maybe you should bring your attention back to the people waiting for you outside."

"I understand you may be frustrated that you couldn't complete the quest, actually that's something I wanted to talk about."

Oh great, here it comes.

"Rein-senpai, I am now the hero of the country, I think we both know what that means."

"Yeah."

"So I want to ask for your blessing, or at least I want to know whether or not you have any hard feelings."

"Not at all, go ahead."

"Thank you Rein-senpai, truth be told this was my goal for a long time. I'm glad we can still talk like this. I hope you enjoy your stay in the castle."

With that, Helm left.

Judging by the nobles chasing him, the king must not have made his offer yet.

I stood up.

"Hey, where are you going?" Lynn asked, she had to have figured out something by now, so I'm not going to stay and be interrogated.

At this point I just want to forget about the past.

"I'm going to bed early."

In this world, there are only two ways to marry into royalty.

You had to be of high status, something like a prince or a very high ranking noble.

Or you could be someone acknowledged by the royal family, a hero.

Indeed, that was why I was mad, not because of the banquet they gave Helm, but because I knew what the king was about to offer him:

Princess Liana's hand in marriage.

* * *

**Intermission: The man wearing the disguise of a delinquent**

I watched as Dust stomped off to bed.

There are some times when he gets really out of character, seemingly for no reason.

Like when we went to the capital to complete a quest from Vanir, or when we encountered a dragon with Yunyun and Lolisa during a goblin quest.

I've asked Dust about it countless times, but he always just plays it off.

From what I've seen recently, I can say this for sure, Dust isn't who he's trying to be.

In fact I bet Dust isn't even his real name.

The nobles of this country call him Rein. Dust claims it's an alias, but the nobles that call him Rein act as if they've known him for quite some time.

There is that noble lady Lana, who called him "Rein-kun" when I first saw her. She's trying to call him Dust instead, but it seems to be a hard habit for her to break.

Then there is that dragon knight who just spoke to Dust a few moments ago, he called him "Rein-senpai" but the two looked to be the same age.

"Megumin-san, recently you've been saying that Dust is the dragon knight from the story."

"Yes, I know I'm supposed to keep it a secret, but he said that no one would believe me so confidently that I can't just sit quietly and let him win."

"I think I'm ready to believe you."

"Lynn-san! I can't believe it, what Megumin says must be fake, there is no way."

Yunyun was still in denial, but even she must be starting to connect the dots here.

Dust, or is it Rein, has a lot he isn't letting us in on.

The noble lady who took my salad when Helm entered the room should know something, she was part of the noble party that took Dust from Axel.

"Excuse me, I've met you before in Axel but I never got your name."

"Oh, just call me Amelda, no need for honorifics."

"Well Amelda, I want to ask you about Dust, or Rein as he's called here."

"Ehh!?"

Amelda cried out in shock.

There was a film of sweat on her forehead and she quickly ate whatever she had in front of her.

"Well I'd love to talk, but I should get back to the banquet."

Amelda hurried out of the room.

I think I can say for sure that Dust's past is somehow connected to these recent events.

If the other nobles here are like Amelda, then I doubt I'll get any information from them.

Aside from Dust who else might be willing to talk?

Maybe that noble lady calling herself Lana.

The next time I see her, I'll be sure to ask her about Dust.


	5. Peace for This Brazen Layabout

**Peace for This Brazen Layabout**

"Dust? Dust I know you are in there! Do you plan on staying in bed for the whole day?! Come out already!"

How annoying.

"Oi Lynn! If you have nothing to do then go for a walk! Stop making a fuss this early in the morning!"

"It's almost noon! The rest of us are going sightseeing today."

"Then go without me, I don't feel like going outside in this heat."

"You… Fine then, you know, Yunyun was saying something about buying us lunch, I guess we'll enjoy it ourselves."

Such a worthless bribe isn't enough to make me leave the lap of luxury, plus I can have lunch at the castle. That aside someone should really teach Yunyun how to properly treat friends.

"If you are trying to get me to come out of my room, you'll need more than a meal. I don't want to see anyone but the butlers and maids. Actually you know what, if you put on a maid outfit and ask me out I might consider it. Seriously go ask for a maid outfit, preferably one with the shortest possible skirt. You may actually have some sort of sex appeal for once."

"Stop saying such ridiculous things! Who would ever want to appeal to you!?"

That was basically how my morning went.

After trading quips for a while, Lynn gave up and left me alone.

I thought that Liana might come by and visit, but she didn't. Could she have gotten married already?

Arghhh! It pisses me off thinking about it!

If the king hadn't rushed me, I would have tamed that dragon!

I bet that piece of trash planned it all and purposely set me up to fail!

Now I'm not too fond of marrying a princess, but I don't want someone like her to be married to a noble like Helm.

If she had to marry a hero it should at least be someone who started off as a peasant or something.

Yeah I'd even put her together with Kazuma, that would be a better choice.

You should never marry anyone from nobility and especially not royalty, unless you are a masochist who loves being crushed with responsibilities.

I wonder if Darkness takes on all her noble duties for that very reason…

Outside there was a flash of gold as Helm landed the ancient gold dragon in the courtyard.

Out of curiosity I peeked out the window.

Helm was speaking to a knight, the knight did not seem at ease standing so close to the dragon that was just destroying the nation a while ago.

Helm on the other hand looked completely calm, the opposite of how nervous he was when we searched for the dragon together.

I had an urge to open the window and toss some pebbles at that guy, but I didn't have any.

Maybe I could throw a vase or a lamp at him.

For now all I could do was watch him do whatever he came to do.

Oh, it looks like the dragon noticed me watching from the window.

Perhaps it remembered me from before.

The dragon glanced at Helm again, before looking directly at me with it's large emerald eyes.

Strange, I don't recall any trained or tamed dragons ever making that expression, it didn't have any hostile intent, but it didn't seem tame either, instead it looked like it was pleading for something.

I bet Helm hasn't been giving that dragon the attention it wanted, it almost looks like a puppy pleading for food, except this puppy was huge and covered in gold scales.

Well I guess this dragon is far too different, it's like the odd ball in the family. After all, I've never seen a dragon that old rampaging for no reason and even destroying its own eggs.

No use thinking about it now.

"REEEEEEEEIN!"

Not this guy again.

"What have you done to my dear Liana?!"

The king stormed in, he looked absolutely fuming.

"This again?! I haven't even seen or spoken to her since you kicked me out yesterday!"

"That is absolute bullshit! Liana was fine after you left the other day. Today she is looking even more depressed than before! What did you do to her!?"

"Me? What could I possibly do? Maybe she's unhappy that you're marrying her off to an upstart dragon knight!"

"Upstart? I'll have you know that Helm's family were nobles long before yours. How could Liana possibly be unhappy with this marriage? Helm is a hero who rides an ancient gold dragon, unlike you who has lost the ability to even approach one."

"Hey, Helm just got lucky, if it was any other dragon i'd have tamed it long before him."

"If it was any other dragon we wouldn't have called you. You should be grateful that my daughter even thought to give you a chance to redeem yourself and stop ruining her mood with your presence!"

How am I the one ruining her mood?

As the king and I shouted back and forth, I noticed someone peeking through the door.

Hey if you are seeing all this why don't you say something, princess?

The king followed my gaze and saw Liana peeking into the room, she quickly hid herself behind the door when the king turned around.

"Ahh Liana, there is nothing to fear here, if Rein values his head then he will not trouble you anymore."

"U-umm father, that's a bit too…"

"Now now, I know you are upset, but don't worry, Rein will not be here for much longer, now come."

Well at least he's gone.

…

Now that I think about it, did I lose my way with dragons?

I couldn't understand that gold dragon because I thought it was acting strange, but could it be that it only appeared strange to me because I haven't done much related to dragons lately?

Nah impossible, Helm just got lucky. I'm not about to go around doubting myself and start living in isolation, or going on a journey of self discovery.

* * *

I laid back down on the bed and daydreamed until the butler came by with my lunch, then before dinner time, Lynn and the others had returned.

"Hey Dust, are you still in there?"

Her tone was from this morning.

"What do you want now? Even if the sun is going down I'm not going outside."

"That's fine. You know, you really should take this opportunity to explore Gaudveil, there are so many things you normally can't see in Belzerg."

"Not interested."

"Did you know there was a tour offered by some adventurers here? They take you through the nearby forests and show you the different types of monsters in their natural habitats. Normally you wouldn't see things like Alrarunes and Harpies around Axel. Oh and there are even Sirens who come out into the forests to sing."

"Why are you only naming monsters that have the appearance of girls? Do you think I'm some sort of monster-con? Change your impression of me already!"

"That'd be hard to do. Anyways tomorrow we are heading to the local mage academy."

"Mage academy? You mean that glorified library where people sit around reading books all day? Sorry, not interested."

I waited for Lynn to reply with something annoying but everything went silent.

Did she leave?

Good, i'll have dinner in bed too then.

* * *

How should I put this…

Lynn is normally harsh towards me and only me, but recently something's changed.

Lynn has gotten annoying, everyday she and the others go out like a tour group, then she comes back and tells me everything they did no matter how uninterested I am.

"Dust you should have come with us today! First off the mage academy had a contest with the prize being some high quality manatite, Yunyun and Megumin entered and won by a landslide, then they got to show off their magic to a huge crowd! Actually it seems like Belzerg's mages are quite well received here, they were even impressed with me."

"The adventurers here aren't as strong as the ones in Belzerg, naturally the apprentice mages here would be attracted to you guys. Why are you telling me all this?if you are trying to get me to come out, it's not working."

I am not interested in exploring my childhood home, I am already familiar with everything here.

That said why did Lynn leave without a word again?

"Hey Lynn? Lynn! I know you are still there, Lynn?"

No response.

* * *

"Dust?"

The next afternoon Lynn was outside my door again, as if this was our new schedule.

"I'm not interested. This is a rare chance for me to enjoy a peaceful life, leave me alone."

"We went to an art exhibit, well we thought it was an art exhibit but it was really just a ploy to pressure us into buying overpriced paintings."

"Hey don't tell you fell for such an obvious trick. Didn't we run into something similar back in the capital of Belzerg?"

If she ended up spending all her money on such a scam I'm not loaning her anything.

Well I don't have anything to loan but my point still stands.

"Yeah I remember that, are you sure you don't want to join us tomorrow? We might need your help."

"Rejected."

"..."

Lynn left quietly again.

Did she eat something strange?

Maybe she's finally realized that I play an important role in our party.

That role is….

It's so secret that even I don't know.

Yeah something like that.

* * *

I spent the next few days in my room, surprisingly the king did not make any more random excuses to kick me out of the castle.

Everyday Lynn and the others would head out, do something random then come back. Lynn would come see me everyday and explain what they did.

No matter what I said, Lynn would always come by every afternoon.

I would also catch glimpses of Helm outside, flying around on that legendary dragon of his.

I have to admit I was keeping an eye out for him, since I wanted to know what was happening between him and Liana.

We had been in Gaudveil for almost two weeks now, it seems like Lynn and the others had seen enough and were preparing to head home.

"Hey Dust, haven't you had enough of lying around? We shouldn't outstay our welcome here."

Lynn was trying to pry me away from the lap of luxury.

"Haven't you been leaving me alone for these past few days? Here I thought you were finally improving, but now you are once again trying to boss me around. I still need to heal so I'm staying here, I'll see you and the others back in Axel."

"Stop joking around, everyone knows you are fully healed. If I recall correctly you are still flat broke, how are you going to afford a trip back?"

"I'll find a way, just leave me alone."

Lynn did the opposite.

"Hey haven't you heard of privacy!? Don't just barge in like that! And why is everyone else here? What would you have done if I felt like sleeping naked?"

A very rude group of companions had barged into my room.

"I've already seen your nude form once before so I wouldn't be bothered. Anyways we should get going, it's not like you have a reason to stay… or do you?"

I didn't need to ask what Lynn was hinting at, I could tell by her face that she'd figured it out.

* * *

**Intermission: Beyond the Delinquent's Farce**

In the morning Taylor revealed to us that he had found some interesting places for us to visit.

Everyone else was present, Keith, Yunyun, Megumin.

Everyone but Dust.

Dust had yet to leave his room, was he pretending to be injured still?

I tried to get him to come out but the conversation ended up like this.

"If you are trying to get me to come out of my room, you'll need more than a meal. I don't want to see anyone but the butlers and maids. Actually you know what, if you put on a maid outfit and ask me out I might consider it. Seriously go ask for a maid outfit, preferably one with the shortest possible skirt. You may actually have some sort of sex appeal for once."

"Stop saying such ridiculous things! Who would ever want to appeal to you!?"

The only time women would want to appeal to Dust is if they are trying to scam him into buying something. Of course Dust normally has no money to speak of, so even the swindlers in Axel steer clear of him.

I really don't know why I keep putting up with this guy, I should just forget about him and go sightseeing with Taylor and the others.

Yeah I won't bother with him anymore, on the plus side Dust isn't stupid enough to cause trouble in a royal castle so I can go enjoy this new place without worrying.

I'm not sure why I end up worrying about that piece of trash, maybe its just cause we are in the same party?

I met up with my party and the two crimson demons outside.

Taylor was waiting with the others, he said that even if it's Dust, we should still wait for our whole party, so he and the other hadn't left yet.

"Ahh Lynn, any luck getting Dust to come out?"

"I tried convincing Dust to come with us, but he is dead set on locking himself in his room."

"Just like Kazuma… Maybe that is who Kazuma picked up his lazy habits from."

It's really strange seeing Megumin say bad things about Kazuma. In my eyes, Kazuma was probably the top adventurer in Axel. Back when Dust and Kazuma swapped parties, Kazuma synergized perfectly with our group, it's no surprise that his party manages to beat so many Demon King generals.

Keith agreed with me.

"Hey, comparing Kazuma to Dust is a bit too much. I mean he is your leader after all."

"Yeah, I heard from Dust that leading your party is near impossible. Kazuma is probably tired from fighting all those generals."

"It's true, sometimes I feel like Kazuma is doing something incredible when he leads our party. Dealing with both Darkness and Aqua must take alot out of him. But even so I still wish he would be more committed to adventurer work."

A Crimson Demon is a sworn enemy of the demon king, maybe that's why Megumin is so restless no matter how well accomplished of a mage she is.

"Well if Dust isn't coming then there's no point in waiting here, let's go guys."

"Alright!" x4

Keith, Megumin, Yunyun and I followed Taylor, since he had planned out everything for the day.

"Say Yunyun, why are you carrying your bag with you? You could have left it at the castle."

"Ehh? But then what would happen to all the snacks and board games I've packed for all of us?"

"Bringing snacks makes sense, but why board games? I know that you have nobody to play with back in Axel, but please don't bring such unnecessary things when we are umm… Taylor what are we doing today?"

Megumin remembers Taylor's name but not Dust's?

"We are going to the guild again, I found an ad for a tour through a nearby forest. It's run by one of the strongest adventurer parties in this city, so we won't have to worry about monsters."

"A tour through a forest sounds nice. Hey Yunyun, if I cast explosion sometime during the tour, you will need to ditch your bag and carry me."

"B-but Megumin, I spent so long gathering games and snacks on the off chance that someday I would go on a trip with some friends, I don't want to leave my bag behind."

"So long? Hey how old are those snacks you packed? Were you planning on giving us expired food?"

"I would never! Look see they aren't expired! Hey Megumin we haven't even left the city yet, don't start eating my snacks!"

"I'm dofing you a fafor."

"Swallow before you speak!"

"I'm lightening your load, besides a powerful archmage like me requires plenty of food to fuel my magic."

"Eating snacks won't let you cast two explosions a day!"

I watched as Yunyun and Megumin fought over Yunyun's bag.

Yunyun supposedly had no friends, but from what I'm seeing, isn't she and Megumin really close?

* * *

A while later we had arrived at the local guild, we met up with some locals and other tourists who were also taking the tour and a man who looked like a Warrior explained the rules.

"We all want to come back alive, so don't do anything to agitate the monsters. In the unlikely event of a monster attack, I want everyone to huddle together so that my party will have an easier time protecting you all. We should be able to see some less threatening monsters on this tour, so if you have any magic cameras feel free to use them. Make sure you don't fall behind, otherwise you risk getting lost."

Soon we were outside the city gates and trekking through the forest.

"AHHHHHHH!"

A high pitch shriek made everyone jump.

At first I thought that someone had gotten mauled by a rookie killer, but when I turned towards the source all I saw was a plant girl.

It was not like the tranquility girl which looked just like a young girl, this one looked like a girl sprouting out of a plant.

"There is no need to be alarmed, Alrarunes are harmless plant monsters, they often cry like that to calm people down." one of the local adventurers explained.

Just how was an ear piercing cry supposed to calm us down?

"Kyah! Look at that! It's so cute!"

Someone said while pointing at a horned rabbit glancing at us from the bushes.

It was indeed cute, it looked at us with little red eyes and wiggled its whiskers.

I felt the urge to offer it a snack.

"Say Megumin, doesn't that rabbit look somewhat familiar?"

I was just about to ask Yunyun for something to offer to the rabbit, when she said something interesting.

"Hmm, now that I think about it, didn't we run into something similar back when we first arrived in Axel?"

It seems that Megumin and Yunyun had run into a similar type of monster before.

In the meantime Keith and a few others were approaching the little rabbit.

Some were taking pictures of it using magic cameras while others were trying to feed it vegetable sticks.

"Ahh I remember now! Back when we formed a party together, it was around the time that demon showed up, we got attacked by a horde of those things."

As Megumin said that, Taylor ran to Keith side.

"Get away from that! It's a One Strike Rabbit!"

Hearing Taylor's shout, the warrior leading the tour group lept in front of Keith and raised his shield.

The rabbit lunged at the warrior and impaled it's horn deep within his shield then struggled to get out.

The warrior held the trapped rabbit up high for everyone to see.

"Pay attention, this is a One Strike Rabbit, it uses its cute looks to draw in prey, then it uses it's sharp horn and powerful legs to impale itself into one's vitals. If you see another one of these, please don't approach it."

Moving on from the rabbit, we were led a cliff face within the forest.

"This is where Harpies love to roost, everyone watch the skies and you may catch a glimpse of one returning to it's nest."

As the adventurers leading us formed a defensive line, we looked to the skies.

"Oh there's one!" Keith said, pointing at a barely visible object in the distance.

He was probably using the archer skill 'Farsight' to spot them.

"There's another, and another, there is a whole flock coming in!"

There was indeed lots and lots of small specks in the distance, closing in fast.

I could soon make out the shape of Harpies, monsters that had the appearance of women, but had wings and talons like a bird.

"Oh you guys are lucky, it is rare for the Harpies to gather like this."

Just as our guide said that….

"EXPLOSION!"

The entire flock of Harpies were engulfed in a bright orange flame.

I didn't even get to see them up close...

As for the culprit who had done such a thing.

"I leveled up!"

"Megumin! How could you do such a thing! I really wanted to see them up close! I read that it is possible for humans to communicate with a Harpy and I really wanted to try it out!"

"How could I not fire explosion at such a large group of enemies?! In the first place you should be trying to talk with monsters just cause you could never get along with people. Hey stop! I can't breathe if you do that! Urkkkk…. Helpp….."

After that Taylor had to carry Megumin for most of the trip.

We had seen many other monsters, such as a Fenrir and a Siren.

Aside from Keith nearly getting impaled by a rabbit and Megumin blowing up a flock of harpies the rest of the day went smoothly.

Taylor said that tomorrow, the local mage academy would host some sort of tournament open for all mages, so we were going to head there next.

I considered trying to drag Dust out of his room again but decided against it, as it was quite peaceful without him around.

Now that I think about it, wasn't Dust acting strange lately?

Right, I was planning to find the noble lady named Lana, the one who had allowed us to stay. I had some questions to ask her regarding Dust.

I asked several of the knights, butlers and maids, but apparently none of them had heard of the name "Lana".

Was it some sort of alias? I know that the princess of Belzerg used the name "Alice" when venturing out on her own, maybe this is something similar?

I kept on asking until someone knew who I was talking about.

"Unfortunately Lana is busy at the moment, what did you want to speak to her about?"

It was a well built man, he gave the impression of an upstanding knight but his blonde hair and blue eyes signified that he was a noble figure, it was probably a bit rude of me to distract him from his noble duties, but I wanted to get to the bottom of things.

We always agreed that there shouldn't be secrets between party members, so why is Dust hiding his past from us?

"Well I wanted to know why Dust was brought here, I mean if he was paying off some sort of debt, why was given a room for free and being served by maids and butlers?"

The noble knight scratched his head shyly, did he not know how to reply?

"Well it's kind of a long story, those two go way back."

"If you have time, do you mind telling me? If something is bothering my companion I think I should know."

Yes even if it's Dust, party members need to look out for each other.

"Well I am free at the moment, sure let's take a stroll around the castle and i'll tell.."

"Zorn!, Zorn, there you are, quickly I need help with the paperwork regarding… Oh hello there, you are a friend of Dust's right? Sorry something came up we can't chat for long!"

The noble lady who ate with us yesterday night showed up, I think her name was Amelda?

Well anyways she was yelling something about paperwork and snatched the knight away.

She bolted the last time I asked about Dust too.

Was there some kind of order among the nobles here to keep Dust's past hidden?

"Ahhh wait Amelda, where are we going? I can walk on my own let go of me! Ow ow, your stats have gone up again? Why are you so strong?"

I could hear the knight saying all sorts of things as he was dragged away.

I know it's not good to eavesdrop on other people's business, but I had a hunch that Amelda was just trying to get that knight away from me.

Oh no, I'm starting to feel like Dust, rubbing my nose into other people's business...

I followed the sound of the knight, greeting the maids and butlers as I passed by.

Amelda dragged the knight around several corners before coming to a stop.

"Quiet down already, what did you tell her?

"Hey stop giving me that scary look, I only had time to say that Liana and Rein had known each other for a long time."

"Let's be clear, you didn't speak about Liana-sama using her real name right?"

"Yes of course, I called her Lana like we did in Axel."

"Did you forget that Liana-sama forbade us from talking about Rein's past?"

"Well no, but.."

"Then why are you so casually revealing things to that mage girl? Would you also give away state secrets if the one asking was a young girl like her?"

"Is everything alright miss?"

"Fawh!"

I was startled, I had been paying so much attention to the conversation that I didn't notice a butler walk up behind me.

"No, everything is fine. Phew, you really gave me a fright."

I tried to focus on Amelda's conversation again but I didn't hear anything.

They probably heard my shout and moved somewhere else.

A few other knights showed up to find out who had yelled, I ended up having to explain myself, in doing so I lost track of Amelda.

Now would be a good time to talk with Dust again.

"Hey Dust, are you still in there?"

I'm not going to bother convincing him to come out, I just need to confirm a few things.

"What do you want now? Even if the sun is going down I'm not going outside."

Dust supposedly knew the noble lady Lana from before, which means he should be familiar with this country.

"Yeah that's fine. You know, you really should take this opportunity to explore Gaudveil, there are so many things you normally can't see in Belzerg."

"Not interested."

"Did you know there was a tour offered by some adventurers here? They take you through the nearby forests and show you the different types of monsters in their natural habitats. Normally you wouldn't see things like Alrarunes and Harpies around Axel. Oh and there are even Sirens who come out into the forests to sing."

"Why are you only naming monsters that have the appearance of girls? Do you think I'm some sort of monster-con? Change your impression of me already!"

"That'd be hard to do. Anyways tomorrow we are heading to the local mage academy."

"Mage academy? You mean that glorified library where people sit around reading books all day? Sorry, not interested."

When one thinks of a mage academy you would expect it to be a place where mages practice casting spells, but it is as Dust said, it was really just a place to study.

I know because I went to a mage academy before traveling to Axel, but why would Dust know?

There were no mage academies in Axel and Dust practically never left that city, so the only way for him to know would be if he had visited one in the past.

No wait, it could just be a coincidence, this isn't enough, I'll have to find out more about this country tomorrow and speak to Dust again.

* * *

Dust wasn't with us today either.

As Taylor said, there was indeed an open event at the mage academy.

"Wait this is the mage academy? It's just a bunch of people sitting around reading books and studying. I thought there would at least be more magic casting and magical girls wear-"

Keith stopped mid way of voicing his complaints after noticing my glare.

"Well regardless this is the mage academy, I figured since we had three mages with us we should visit this place before we left. Well anyways it says here that every year, the mage academy hosts a competition to figure out which mage is the most intelligent, the prize is some high quality manatite which any high level mage would treasure."

Competition? That's a fancy way of putting it.

It's really just an exam, you study hard then answer a ton of multiple choice questions.

"Say Lynn, do you want to give it a shot?" Taylor asked

"Well I could, but I'm still a rookie when it comes to magic, even if I did somehow win I wouldn't really need all that manatite since my intermediate spells don't use that much mana."

With the amount of mana that high quality manatite contained, it would be a huge waste to use it for powering spells like my lightning and wind curtain.

"What about you Megumin?"

"No thanks, even with all that manatite it still wouldn't be enough for a second explosion spell. Come on Yunyun, let's go do my daily explosion routine."

"Wait hold on Megumin, this competition is made to find out who is the smartest mage around, so if I win, wouldn't I be the number one genius of the Crimson Demon clan?"

"Even if you do, I don't think someone who lacks any form of social skills can be called a genius."

"Wahhh! Alright then Megumin, I challenge you to a duel. Whoever places higher in this competition wins!"

And so we ended up staying at the academy.

Megumin and Yunyun probably thought this was a magic contest or something, because they were both incredibly confused when they registered and was told to study for the next hour.

At first the rest of us stayed with Megumin and Yunyun, but soon an old man who wore mage robes came over and said that the participants could not bring "personal tutors" or anything of the sort.

"Ahh no, we are just a group of tourists from Belzerg. Besides those two Archmages are probably smarter than the rest of us."

"Hmm, but the rules state that the participants must study alone, you can stay but we normally don't get spectators, could you perhaps watch from the second floor or something?"

"Oh sure."

As Taylor, Keith and I left the room where hundreds of people were studying I heard a few whispers among the other participants.

"Mages from Belzerg?"

"Aren't they a bit young?"

"Belzerg is a country of war, they probably grew up hunting monsters."

"I didn't know Belzerg had any mages, I expected them to be mostly berserkers."

"Yeah, a bunch of muscle brained adventurers right?"

"They were probably expecting a fight and not a test of knowledge, this should be easy."

I felt the urge to zap some of these guys, if Megumin had heard them she probably would have blown up the whole academy.

We spent the next hour waiting, well I did, Keith got bored and left for the tavern, apparently he's looking for some female adventurer he met a while ago.

Taylor went with Keith to make sure he didn't get into trouble.

Megumin didn't seem worried and just sat around eating snacks and reading heroic novels.

Yunyun held a board game in her hands and looked like she wanted to ask someone to play with her, but after seeing how hard they were studying she gave up and started playing by herself.

Soon the so called 'competition' started.

The participants were separated and each given an exam paper and a set of writing utensils.

I knew that the Crimson Demons had high intelligence so I expected Megumin and Yunyun to have no trouble but.

"Huh? What's with these words? I can't understand anything!"

Apparently Megumin had trouble understanding the first question.

I could hear the other participants snickering.

"If you require clarification on any question, please raise your hand."

Megumin's hand shot up, and a man who looked like a professor went to her aid.

Seeing this, Yunyun shyly raised her hand.

It seems like she was having trouble as well, but wasn't sure if she should seek help.

It was really boring waiting here, the only important thing to note was that Megumin and Yunyun needed help for every single question on the exam.

Maybe the Crimson Demons weren't as smart as they say?

About an hour and a half later, the competition was over.

"Alright utensils down everyone. Well done to those that came prepared, better luck next time to those who didn't."

A few of the other mages snickered while glancing in Megumin and Yunyun's direction.

"We will now determine the winner, feel free to talk among yourselves."

Now that the exam period was over, I was allowed to go back down to the main floor.

"Hey how did you do?"

"I did great, I think I got like 80% right."

"Oh nice, I spent the whole year studying for this day so I'm sure I placed high."

"Well if anything we won't be last, since we have two girls who didn't study at all."

There were discussions like this all around.

By the time I reached Megumin and Yunyun I had heard almost everyone in the room talking about them and laughing.

"I want to blow these guys up. Let me blow them up."

"Megumin! Your eyes tell me that you are serious! You can't!"

Yunyun and Megumin were fighting over the latter's staff.

"Hey no need to get so angry Megumin, you're a Crimson Demon after all, I'm sure you did good."

In response to my words Megumin flicked her cape.

"Of course! I am the number one genius of the clan. However a Crimson Demon does not back down when provoked."

Is she really the number one genius if she couldn't understand a single question?

After a long wait, a large group of old or middle aged men and women arrived, all clad in robes, they must be the teachers at this academy.

"Ahem, well this a surprise, not only is this the first time anyone has gotten a perfect score, but we also have a tie! Yes two people have gotten a perfect score."

"?!"

"What?"

"Who could it be?"

"It's gotta be me, I spent countless days and nights preparing."

The whole room was thrown into commotion.

"So without further ado, would err Meg.. Megumin and err Yunyun… please step forth?"

"Ehh?"

Megumin and Yunyun both won?

The two Crimson Demons stepped forward.

"Congratulations both of you, umm these are your real names right?" The man announcing the victors asked.

"Is there a problem with my name?"

"Ahh no of course not."

A man from the crowd raised his voice.

"They had to have cheated somehow!"

"Yeah how could they get a perfect score? They couldn't even understand the questions!"

Faced with these sudden accusations, Yunyun panicked.

"Ahh no no I didn't cheat! Well it's true that I didn't understand the questions, but it was because the words they used were different from the ones used back home, the test itself was actually very easy."

Megumin nodded with Yunyun's hasty explanation.

Upon hearing this…

"Ahh I lost... I lost to two little girls who couldn't read…"

"I think I'll forget being a mage and go inherit my father's farm…"

"I spent six years here and I lost to these interlopers, maybe it's time to find another job…"

The other mages, who had been so openly mocking Megumin and Yunyun a while ago, now had dejected expressions as they mumbled about their futures.

It seems that our Crimson Demons had accidentally crushed their hopes and dreams.

Clearing his throat, the head of the academy raised Megumin and Yunyun's hands.

"As of today I declare Megumin and Yunyun to be the smartest pair of mages in Gaudviel!"

There should be a large round of applause here right?

But half the participants were so depressed they only clapped half heartedly.

That didn't stop Megumin introducing herself again.

"My name is Megumin! The number one genius of the Crimson Demon clan! The welder of explosion magic! The most powerful of all magic! And now the top mage in this foreign country!"

And that got the attention of all the teachers in the room.

"Explosion magic!? Excuse me young miss, but can you really use explosion magic at your age?!"

"Why yes of course, explosion magic has been my biggest interest ever since I was young."

"Amazing! Umm your name was Megumin right? Megumin-sensei could you please do us a favor and show us your explosion magic?"

The teachers and even some of the students were now surrounding Megumin, referring to her as 'sensei' and asking her to cast explosion.

"Well I still have yet to cast it today, sure why not."

Megumin, along with Yunyun and I left the city gates to cast her explosion spell and a mob of teachers and students of the to see it.

It turns out that the mages outside of Belzerg aren't as capable when it comes to actually casting spells.

After Megumin used her explosion, someone asked if both me and Yunyun could cast similar magic, since we were all from Belzerg.

Not only were they fascinated with Yunyun's advanced magic, but they were even impressed by my intermediate magic.

Apparently in this country, your average mage does not even learn intermediate magic until the age of 20.

Well the magic competition ended up turning into a live magic demonstration, by the time we returned Keith and Taylor had already gone back to the castle.

After telling them what had happened, I went up to Dust's room again.

"Dust you should have come with us today! First off the mage academy had a contest with the prize being some high quality manatite, Yunyun and Megumin entered and won by a landslide, then they got to show off their magic to a huge crowd! Actually it seems like Belzerg's mages are quite well received here, they were even impressed with me."

"The adventurers here aren't as strong as the ones in Belzerg, naturally the apprentice mages here would be attracted to you guys. Why are you telling me all this?if you are trying to get me to come out, it's not working."

Would Dust know that the adventurers here aren't as strong if this was his first time here?

I don't think so.

Well actually it isn't hard to put two and two together and conclude that Belzerg would have stronger adventurers since they are at war with the demon king army.

I'll come back tomorrow for more proof.

* * *

The next day we were taken off track by a woman offering free tickets to an art exhibit, however it turned out to be a ploy to pressure us into buying expensive pieces of art.

Taylor seemed really weak to that sort of scam, if not for Megumin chasing them away he probably would have lost the money he had on him.

I returned to Dust that day and told him about the scam, unsurprisingly he knew about it as well.

He also pointed out that we had seen something similar in the capital of Belzerg, however even back then he was shown to already be familiar with that sort of ploy.

I heard he once tried similar tricks in Axel.

Dust still wouldn't give up his shut in life, so I had no choice but to leave and come back again the next day.

This would repeat several times.

Everyday Taylor would take us to some new place in the city, I would come back and speak to Dust about it and he was always unsurprised and spoke as if he knew this place already.

I was now certain that Dust had been here before.

As I wandered the castle thinking about how to make Dust admit the truth, I noticed the noble lady I had been searching for a few days ago.

She called herself Lana, but that had to be an alias.

She was speaking with the noble lady Amelda and the knight named Zorn.

I don't know why but even though she was trying her best to act happy, I think I saw a tinge of sadness on her face.

After a short while, Amelda and Zorn left, while Lana returned to her room.

Well I assume it's her room, she did somehow manage to let us stay in the royal castle for free so she is probably a high ranking noble of this country who lives in the castle.

I knocked on her door.

"Coming!... Oh it's you, ummm has something happened with Dust?"

She wasn't calling Dust Rein anymore.

"No Dust is fine, at least I think he is, he hasn't left his room for days now."

"Ahh that's a relief."

Lana looked happy to hear that.

If anything that just confirms that she cares about Dust's well being.

"Hey, wasn't it you who dragged him out here to fight a dragon?"

"No, not at all. Dust made his own choice, I would never purposely put Dust in danger."

"Hmm? But if I recall correctly you dragged Dust out of Axel while saying something about him working off his debts."

"Ehhh!? Ahh I think I did say that…"

"Normally Dust wouldn't have anything to do with nobles from any country. So it's strange that he'd follow you without being blackmailed or forced."

"No I'm not blackmailing him! You got the wrong idea I'm not that kind of person!"

"That's not my point, look I asked this before, what are you and Dust hiding?"

"I think you should ask him."

"He won't tell me, so I did some digging on my own. First off, Dust knows too much about this country for someone who has only been here for two weeks. I also noticed that you and the other nobles continuously call him Rein for some reason, that dragon knight of yours even calls him 'senpai' as if he were his predecessor or something. Thirdly Dust accepted an extremely difficult quest, which is completely different from the Dust I know, who always looks for easy ways to make money. Finally when I asked about you, nobody knew any noble lady named "Lana" except for one knight, but he only had time to tell me that you two had known each other for a long time before he was dragged away by another noblewoman."

Lana turned her back on me.

"I see, so you were the one they were talking about."

What does that mean, hey could this be some sort of trap for me?

"No need to be alarmed, I just heard that a certain mage girl was asking around about me and Rein."

Oh good, she doesn't fall into the evil noble category.

Also she's started referring to Dust as Rein again.

"For you to go through all this to find out about his past…. he must be really important to you."

"That's a misunderstanding."

Dust is a companion of mine, that's all.

However it didn't seem like Lana believed me at all.

"If you say so."

"You know Dust from before he started adventuring in Axel, don't you? If you don't want to tel me about Dust's past can you at least explain why?"

Liana walked further into her room and sat down on her bed, her smile from before had gone.

That tinge of sadness I saw earlier was in full view.

"I guess it's about time I talked to someone about it…" she muttered

Did something happen between her and Dust?

"Have you ever heard of the story of the princess and the dragon knight? It's quite a popular story among the nobility."

"Yes."

I had heard of it from Yunyun and princess Iris, both were really fond of that story and would always recite it perfectly.

"Well there was a few parts of that story that was well, embellished."

I would have preferred it if she just conveniently told me her real name and her past with Dust right off the bat but I guess she had other things on her mind.

"Yes the boy was from a minor noble family, he was indeed the youngest man to obtain the job of dragon knight, but it wasn't his accomplishments that made him the princess' bodyguard. The princess, had long fallen in love with such an amazing boy, since she was spoiled and used to getting whatever she wanted, she was the one who insisted that the boy become her bodyguard.

The princess was also a sheltered noble who had no common sense, once she was betrothed to a prince whom she had no feelings for, the princess ordered the boy to elope with her to a faraway place where nobody could find them.

She had no idea that the kingdom would go into panic.

She had no idea that her actions would destory her beloved's reputation.

A price was put on the head of the boy, so the two returned to the castle, despite all her efforts the princess could not stop the king from stripping the boy of his noble status, demolishing his house and banishing him from the kingdom.

All she could do was create the tale of the princess and the dragon knight, in hopes that it could restore a bit of his lost reputation."

As Lana told the true story of the dragon knight her voice started to break, a tear had found it's way out of her eyes which was followed by an unbroken stream.

"I'm that princess, I did my best to change so that I wouldn't make the same mistake twice. When the gold dragon started terrorizing the country I thought that it was the perfect chance for him to regain the reputation he lost. But all I succeeded in doing was convincing my father that Rein is no longer fit to be a dragon knight."

"Hang on a second, you're telling me that Dust was once a model knight?"

"He was before he met me."

This is…

I can't believe this.

My impression of Dust was someone who would laze around all day and wouldn't work unless he was driven into a corner.

Wait, but if I think about it really hard, doesn't this all make sense?

Dust once worked hard to become this amazing knight that everyone looked up too. But then he ended up losing everything simply because he followed orders from a princess.

That would explain why Dust dislikes nobles so much and why he believes that working hard doesn't pay off.

It would also explain why he is so capable in battle, sure he doesn't look like much, but Dust was no doubt one of the strongest adventurers in Axel.

If anyone else had heard Lana's story they probably wouldn't believe it, but I do.

I'm sure she wasn't lying either, I had asked her to explain everything before, she seemed okay with it but it was Dust who stopped her.

Dust probably doesn't want to return to his past life so he hides everything related to the past.

"You know, we are going to be returning to Axel soon, you should probably go see Dust again."

Lana shook her head

"I can't, if I do, father will use it as an excuse to punish him further."

So she's avoiding Dust now because she's worried about what her father might do?

I see…

This is a stalemate, Dust seems to care about Lana enough to go face an ancient gold dragon for her, while Lana still wants to make up for the past, but the king is in the way.

The dragon knight incident must have been a wake up call for both of them.

Who would have that thought Dust could be caught up in such an interesting problem.

I sat with Lana, trying to comfort her, while she did stop crying she was still saddened that Dust was leaving soon.

What Dust will say about this.

As I left I heard the sound of wings flapping, I turned back and peek inside Lana's room.

The man named Helm, was at the window, standing on the back of the ancient gold dragon.

"Liana-sama, I noticed you were feeling down recently. While I may not be Rein, would you like to join me on a cruise through the skies?"

Ahh I see, her name was Liana, did I mishear it or did she purposely introduce herself as Lana?

Lana, no Princess Liana seemed to hesitate for a while, but then she joined Helm and soared off.

I don't think she'll be seeing Dust anytime soon.

Well we were supposed to head back to Axel today, but if Dust really wants to stay maybe we should let him.

* * *

**A/N:** So the 5th Dust spinoff was announced and it looks like we will get an official reveal of Dust's past soon. With that said I'm going to finish this story off before that spinoff gets released. This chapter was mostly told from Lynn's view rather than Dust, since Dust was lazing around. However the next chapter will be told completely from Dust's view, it will likely be the final chapter as well, followed by an epilogue afterwards.


	6. The Return of the Dragon Knight

**The Return of the Dragon Knight**

"Of course I want to stay! Who wouldn't want to lay in bed all day and be waited on by butlers and cute maids?"

Seriously Lynn, what kind of question is that?

You should have known I'd give an answer along those lines, so stop looking at me expectantly.

"Oh? Are you sure it doesn't have anything to do with the princess who is currently out for a ride on an ancient gold dragon, with the country's dragon knight-sama?"

What…

I knew Lynn couldn't stop sticking her nose where it didn't belong.

Wait a second…

That bastard!

Helm is taking Liana out for a ride?! He is totally ripping off my role from back in the day!

And don't just attach -sama to the end of dragon knight! I swear Lynn did that on purpose to piss me off.

Well now i'm pissed so i'm not moving from here.

"Not going, leave now. It's way too early in the morning for this."

I pulled the covers over by head and rolled over.

Yeah this is much better than sitting in a bumpy carriage for half a day.

"Ahh I see, well then I guess Rein still has some unfinished business here, let's teleport back to Axel without him."

Don't joke with me, no teleport station will bring you to another country.

Unless they were planning to use Yunyun's teleport, then the trip would be both free and quick…

"Nope still not interested."

"Say Yunyun, what are the risks of using teleport on someone who isn't standing still?"

"Why are you asking that? Are you actually planning to drag me back to Axel! I refuse!"

"U-umm well, there is a rumor that sometimes insects get into the teleport circle and end up fusing with humans, so maybe something similar will happen?"

Screw off!

Hearing that just makes me not want to travel by teleport ever again!

"Oh… it would be a nightmare for any woman to be fused with the current Rein."

"Stop calling me Rein! Where did you hear that from Lynn? Did Liana tell you!?"

"What are you talking about? Isn't Rein your real name?"

"Stop joking around! I'm Dust! D-U-S-T!"

In the background, Taylor, Keith and Yunyun each looked confused as to why I was making such a fuss.

Megumin knew so she didn't say a word and kept observing us.

"How long do you plan on keeping up this act? I know you are familiar with this country and it's princess, I also know that some parts of the dragon knight story isn't true. Why don't you just come out and say it?"

Okay let's just calm down and play dumb

"Say what?"

I'm sure my reputation in Axel will come through and Lynn will forget about the whole dragon knight ordeal.

"Stop playing dumb!"

I really can't slip anything past you, can I?

"How long are you planning to argue! Look! The sun is coming up already! You wasted my precious final hours of sleep!"

I pointed at the window, where an orange light was starting to seep through.

Orange?

Lynn had followed my finger and glanced out the window, for some reason she had shut up once she looked outside.

One by one, my other companions followed, soon they were all crowded by the window.

"Hey don't just go quiet on me! If something big is happening then say it out loud so I can understand!"

I wasn't going to get out of bed for some strange light.

"Dust, the sun hasn't come up yet, that light is from the city walls burning."

"What?"

"Come see for yourself."

"No! Let me guess, you are planning on having Yunyun teleport back to Axel the moment I get out of bed right? As a certain masked devil would say: Too bad!"

As I was saying that…

"REIN!"

The king of Gaudveil barged in, carrying a set of dragon knight armor and a familiar looking spear.

"Oh great, just what I needed an old fart."

"Don't talk to your king that way! Here!"

He tossed the spear and the armor onto my bed.

"Hey careful with that! What if the spear cut me!"

"That wouldn't happen, now get up and get changed!"

"What are you ordering me around for? Actually don't you have a new dragon knight? Why are you giving me this stuff?"

"Helm is nowhere to be found and the ancient gold dragon is rampaging again! As much as I dislike it, I'm ordering you to go and protect the country again!"

That was it.

I shot up out of bed.

This king pissed me off for the last time.

"Hey, first you threaten to execute me at every turn, now all of a sudden I need to protect your stupid country?!"

"Don't you dare shout at me Rein! You once took an oath to protect the country as one of it's knights! So now you must do that!"

"And what am I supposed to do?! I almost died to that dragon before! Are you trying to get me killed?!"

"Not this time, with Helm gone you are the only dragon knight in the city that stand a chance against that thing, so shut up and go kill it already!"

Still standing by the window, my companions had heard everything.

"Only dragon knight… so Dust was something like that all along…"

Something like what Taylor?

"And here I was, wondering why even Dust had better luck with women than me."

That's unrelated Keith, you're just hopeless.

"You still planning on keeping up the delinquent act?"

It's not an act Lynn!

"I told you."

No one cares Megumin.

"N-no, there must be a mistake, u-umm maybe the king is just acting out under pressure or something."

Really Yunyun? You still won't believe it?

Forget about them, what's important here is this king… no this trash.

When everything is normal he'll use every excuse he can to threaten me, but when things get bad, he suddenly expects me to help?

You know now that I think about it, if I do nothing the dragon will eventually come here and kill him right? I could just go to sleep then escape when the dragon reaches the castle.

"So let me get this straight? You took away my family's title, our land and cast me out over something your daughter ordered. Now all of a sudden I'm supposed to help you? Well then if you really need this delinquent's help, then why don't you prostrate yourself in front of me first?"

"What?!"

"You heard me! Go on, get on your knees. I did the same thing back when I was asking for your forgiveness after bringing Liana back, so it's only normal for you to do the same here."

"Why you, I am a king! A king does not bow before commoners!"

"Well, I guess Gaudveil is going to be destroyed then."

"Dust?!"

I guess this sort of behaviour would even surprise my companions.

"Why you! If you won't help then you have no reason to live, I'll have you tied up and executed at dawn!"

I couldn't help but laugh.

"Executed at dawn? Hahah! By then there won't be anyone left to execute me!"

Oh my I'm really starting to sound like a villain.

"Come on now, all you need to do to get my help, is to bow down and ask me for forgiveness. Go on, do it."

Oh? The king's face is becoming all red.

Better watch your blood pressure there.

I'm not Sir Vanir, but I still enjoyed the sight of a very angry king stomping away.

That man was so thick skinned he wouldn't bow before me even if his kingdom was on the line.

What a joke of a king.

"Alright then it's settled, come on Yunyun, use your teleport spell and bring us back to Axel."

My companions all stared at me, wide eyed and pale faced.

"You can't be serious Dust! I know you aren't the type to do anything good unless it benefited you, but you can't possibly leave your home country to burn!"

"Hey aren't you supposed to be the thick headed crusader? Don't suddenly start lecturing me."

"Dust! Aren't you supposed to be a noble in this country? How can you think about running away when the country is in such a state?"

"Weren't you paying attention Keith? I'm not a noble anymore."

"Dust…"

Lynn rested her hand on my shoulder.

"Oh what's this? Could all our time together have finally cau-"

"I can't believe you! I always knew you were scum but to think even the real you would fall this far! I spent this entire week uncovering your past thinking that maybe you could become a better person, but to think it would all amount to this!"

"Hey don't blame me! That king deserves what is coming!"

Lynn backed away from me.

"So that's how it is…"

Meanwhile by the windowsill, Megumin's eyes were glowing with anticipation.

"A dragon! And a very powerful one at that! It looks like it could even survive an explosion, ahh but maybe the knights and adventurers in this city could weaken it for me, then I shall slay it and earn the title of dragon slayer!"

"In that case Megumin, should we do our part as adventurers and join in subjugating the dragon?" Lynn offered

"Of course! How could we not? We are adventurers aren't we? Ahh this is perfect, if only Kazuma would have the same adventuring spirit as you guys!"

Taylor, Keith, Lynn and Megumin left to fight the dragon.

I wonder how Megumin was planning on hitting something that fast using explosion.

The only one left was Yunyun.

"U-umm what should I do here?"

"Oh Yunyun! You didn't go with them? Perfect, let's teleport back to Axel right now."

"Ehhhh!? You want to leave everyone else behind?!"

"Of course not, can't you save this place as a teleport spot and just come back after dropping me off?"

"Umm well, I kinda want to stay and steal the show from Megumin, we are rivals and not friends after all."

"Oh? Well what are you still standing here for?"

"Megumin and the others just left you know, won't it be rude if I left now and accidentally caught up to them despite not being invited?"

Are you serious?

I heard Yunyun had already became the new chief of the Crimson Demon Clan, yet she is still this bad with people?

Guess she'll never change.

"They won't mind, just go ahead, Lynn is way in over her head on this one, go keep an eye on them for me."

"Sounds like you really care about Lynn."

"What the? Where did that come from?"

"I saw the very same line in one of the novels I read."

"Don't compare this to your slice of life books!'

Seriously, just how was this girl raised?

Yunyun took a seat on the edge of my bed.

"What about you Dust? You aren't really going to stay here all day again are you?"

"What are you saying? Of course I am."

"You're horrible!"

"Hey it's that king's fault for letting Helm bring that dragon here in the first place, don't push the blame onto me."

"Forget that, your friends just left to go complete a near impossible quest, aren't you the type who looks out for them whenever they get into trouble?"

"You got the wrong idea."

Besides Lynn is no idiot she will probably realize they can't beat that thing and retreat soon enough.

As for the city, people are probably evacuating already, so I don't have to worry about them.

Well then I guess I should leave the castle so I don't get caught in that thing's rampage.

Reluctantly I got out of my bed.

"Oh! I knew it! We are going to help Megumin and the other! Right Dust?"

"Get real, I'm just going to say goodbye to Liana and leave."

"Liana?"

"What? Lynn didn't tell you? That's the princess of this country, the one who was calling herself Lana in front of you guys."

"No not that, didn't Lynn say that the dragon knight took her out for a flight on the ancient gold dragon."

Oh right she did say that.

Wait a second…

"The ancient gold dragon?"

"Yes."

"The same one that is destroying the kingdom right now?"

"Yes of course."

God dammit!

* * *

I ran to the throne room at full speed carrying the armor and the spear that king had left for me

I had my equipment back, now all I needed were dragons.

"Clayton! Where is King Clayton Gaudveil?"

The throne room was empty.

"Rein? You were still here?"

Amelda appeared in the throne room.

She must have been teleporting the other nobles to safety.

"Amelda! Quick do you know where Lancius and Aceis are?"

"Hmm? Well they both flew off not too long after you left, although there have been reports of them nesting near the towns."

So they weren't in the capital anymore.

"Dammit!"

"Hold on Rein, are you planning on fighting that dragon? I think I could call Lancius and Aceis back using Force Fire magic."

Force Fire was a spell that attracted monsters, dragons were no exception.

"You can? Okay please do that!"

"Sure, come on."

As Amelda and I were running back upstairs..

"Huff huff, Dust-san please don't leave me behind like that!"

Yunyun ran into us just as we were heading back up.

Now that I think about it, Yunyun did say she wanted to steal the show from Megumin.

She was also a big fan of that story...

"Say Yunyun, you've really grown attached to that dragon knight story haven't you? How would you like to see the real thing?"

"Eh?"

* * *

"Force fire!"

A bright greenish flame ignited at the tip of Amelda's staff, it curled into a ball and shot upwards, creating a bright green light which attracted the nearby monsters.

I was worried about other monsters flooding into the city as a result of that spell, but now that I look around, the walls around the whole city was ablaze, meaning that only heat resistant flying monsters could make it inside.

The only monster that met those qualifications near the capital: dragons.

I put on the dragon knight armor which I was all too familiar with, then I swung the spear to determine it's balance.

It was a good spear, not only was the tip very well sharpened, it's shaft was fire hardened and coated with what was probably silver or steel.

As I spun the spear around and took a fighting stance, it seemed that my body still remembered how to use this thing.

I was now in my peak form.

"Ehh?!" Squeaked Yunyun, even louder than the last time.

Finally, as if summoned by Amelda's Force fire, two dragons came flying in at full speed.

One was large and covered with heavy looking scales, it was red with an orange belly and orange eyes.

The second was smaller, but none the less intimidating, it was green and it's scale skin looked like that of a snake, it had an aerodynamic looking form as it flew.

My companions from back in the day, Lanicus the flame dragon and Aceis the wind dragon.

I readied the reins which Amelda had gotten for me.

It would take too long to reequip these guys with armor but that's fine, these two were strong enough on their own. Just a pair of reins and a saddle will do.

The two dragons hovered near the castle as their eyes first met Amelda's and then mine.

Both of them lowered their heads.

I patted both dragons

"Thank you for coming on such short notice you guys."

"EHHHHH!?" That was the loudest noise I heard from Yunyun all day.

I attached a set of reins and a saddle to both dragons, neither of them could beat an ancient gold dragon alone and neither could I, but if I can stall for long enough, maybe I can find out why that gold dragon was on a rampage, or at the very least I could find Liana.

I promised that as her knight, I would protect her when the time comes.

Right now, I'm going to do just that.

Now then, what about my support?

I don't know what kind of new spells Amelda learned since I left, so I think Yunyun would be a better choice.

Plus Yunyun was a crimson demon after all.

I felt like teasing her a bit since she loved that dragon knight story so much.

"Now Yunyun, won't you join me for a stroll through the sky?"

"AHHHHHHH!"

"Hey don't pull out your dagger! Why are you attacking me? I was just asking for your help!"

"Apologize! Apologize for ruining the image of the dragon knight I had in my head!"

"What are you talking about!? Whatever now is not the time to be fooling around!"

"You say that after you recited the lines from the tale of the dragon knight just to tease me!?"

"Look will you help me or not? If you show up on the back of a dragon to save the day, I'm sure you'll steal the spotlight from Megumin. Besides, I'd love to have such a good friend of mine backing me up with magic."

Yunyun is still weak to the word friend right?

"Ahh… Yes! Yes I will!"

Yunyun I climbed onto Lancius and Yunyun followed, nervously looking down as she held on to me in order not to fall off.

The sensation of her breasts on my back was wonderful.

"I'll be joining Zorn and the knight corps on the ground. Good luck Rein!" Amelda waved goodbye to us, then she hurried down the castle.

With a flick of the reins, Yunyun and I were off!

* * *

The speed of a dragon in flight is unmatched.

It would only take seconds for us to reach the ancient dragon.

For some reason it had landed on the walls of the city and was simply setting fire to the structures around it.

I guess wisdom doesn't come with age, a dragon that old should be more than capable of realizing that it can deal more damage by swooping down and striking at adventurers with it's immense physical strength.

I don't have farsight, but since that thing was huge so I could already see it from the castle.

As we got closer it seemed to have noticed me and spread it's wings.

It was going to take flight.

I flicked the reins

"Come on faster! We need to fly faster! Higher too!"

I couldn't let that thing gain a height advantage on us.

"Wahh! Dust-san! Slow down!"

Yunyun wailed as she held on to me even tighter than before.

Man this felt great, naturally I would be enjoying this….

If there wasn't a huge hostile dragon bearing down on us!

"Ahh! This is too fast!"

The ancient dragon probably understood my intention and wasn't letting me get any higher than it.

Right now both my dragon and the ancient dragon were gaining altitude at an incredible pace.

I could feel my ears make popping sounds as we flew even higher.

"Ahh... ahh... Dust-san… slow..."

That suggestive noise was Yunyun struggling to breathe.

The air was getting thinner as we flew higher.

No good, if I keep going upwards Yunyun and I will suffocate.

Our only choice was to attack.

An ancient gold dragon was larger stronger and faster than both my dragons, so the only chance I had was if I could figure out what was bothering this dragon in the first place.

That being said, I'll need to buy as much time as possible.

I whistled at Aceis, he was younger than Lancius, but he was a wind dragon, he can't breathe fire but was much more agile so he could draw the ancient dragon's attention or hit it from a blindspot.

I motioned him to circle around our target.

And while our gold friend is busy dealing with him, I was going to drive my spear into it's belly.

Well at least I tried too.

"So strong! This is my first time actually doing battle with such a dragon and it's much tougher than I ever could have imagined!"

Aceis was slashing at it with it's wings to no avail and Lancius' fire didn't affect it either.

"Lightning strike! Light of Saber!"

Yunyun's magic had more of an effect, but it still wasn't enough to deal any significant damage.

Well at least we were hitting it...

Strange, this dragon has the slowest reactions I have ever seen, it took every attack head on.

At first I thought that maybe it was because it knew how strong it was and our attacks didn't even faze it, but then I noticed the dragon was in pain.

It still had that same look in it's eyes, as if it was asking for something.

I don't get it, did this dragon want to die?

That might explain why it had perched itself on the castle walls earlier to fight the adventurers instead of staying on the move.

Honestly, if a dragon like that wanted to kill us all it had to do was make some rapid maneuvers with its huge wings and knock me and Yunyun to the ground.

Instead all it did was hover up and down, not allowing us to fly higher than it.

At this point I felt like we could probably kill it if we kept on belting it with our attacks, although it may take a very long time, I didn't want to spend all day chipping away at this powerhouse of a dragon.

Oh right, there were still an army of adventurers below us, they could help deal damage too.

I wonder if the ancient dragon will follow us back down to the ground.

"Hang on Yunyun, we are going back down!"

"Hmm? Ahh!"

Yunyun stopped chanting and wrapped her arms around me again.

We dove back downwards.

The ancient dragon followed us but not nearly as fast, it didn't go into a nosedive, instead it let itself slowly float down to the ground.

As soon as we reached the ground, Yunyun hopped off the dragon and stodd shaikly as adventurers started gathering, waiting for the dragon's decent..

"Ahh, solid ground… No wait… My name is Yunyun! Wielder of advanced magic and chief of the Crimson Demon clan!"

After doing her noisy self introduction, Yunyun's face flushed red.

Walking up to poke at Yunyun was Megumin.

She was still standing, I guess she hadn't used explosion yet.

"Oi if your going to steal the show, at least don't make yourself look so pitiful after your introduction."

Megumin glanced over at me, then the two dragons with saddles and reins.

"So I was right, you really have been starting a relationship with our local deliqunent. I give you two my blessing."

"I won't take that! Even as a joke! Dust is just someone who I run into often, I have zero feelings for him!"

"Hey why did I suddenly get friendzoned!"

"With your usual behavior can you really blame her?"

"Don't just rub salt into open wounds Lynn! Besides should you have a different reaction? Something along the lines of "kyah! so Dust was that dreamy dragon knight all along!"

"Why would I say that? I already figured it out on my own."

Aww come on, I was expecting a much better reaction to my big secret coming out!

"It's here! Turtle formation!" That was the sound of Zorn commanding a squad of knights.

The gold dragon must have finally descended into attack range.

Adventurers began pelting the beast with magic and arrows.

Sensing the danger, my two dragons launched their own attacks.

A blade of wind and a stream of fire struck the gold dragon, once again causing minimal damage.

Huh?

Something on the gold dragon's back had caught fire.

Right, Helm was still a newbie, so they have probably built something onto the back of that large beast to help him ride it.

The ancient gold dragon was very large and could carry a whole squad of knights on it's back, so they probably needed to put an entire platform on it's back rather than use the normal saddles.

Wait, is that why this dragon isn't fighting to the best of its ability?

It always made sure to keep it's back out of sight, but a dragon's back is much better armoured than it's belly, if anything it should be keeping it's belly out of sight rather than it's back.

That got me thinking.

Would a dragon kidnap a princess?

"Lynn, you said that you saw Helm take Liana out for a ride on that dragon right?"

"Yes"

"When did that happen?"

"Right before we came to wake you up."

If that was the case…

"Keep on attacking it, i'll be right back!"

I waved my spear and signaled for Aceis to fly by and pick me up.

Aceis was the quicker of the two dragons so I'd ride him this time.

The gold dragon won't let us fly any higher than it, but for now I just needed to get close.

With it's wings catching a favorable breeze generated by wind magic, Aceis took off at incredible speed.

We charged towards the gold dragon, which had begun to ascend again after seeing us approaching.

I've never done this before, but it's the only idea I had at the moment.

As we got close to the gold dragon, I had Aceis fling me towards it.

For a moment there I caught sight of what appeared to be a carriage mounted the gold dragon's back.

Sadly I couldn't make it onto it's back.

"AHHHH!"

Luckily I was caught by Lancius before I could hit the ground.

Alright then, if that doesn't work…

"Lynn! Yunyun?"

"Hmm?"

"E-ehh?"

The two mages came running over.

"You both know wind magic right? Can you use it to help me get on top of that gold dragon?"

"Hmm? Well I think the less damaging Wind Curtain could help, but why are you trying to get on that dragon's back?"

"Well that's because…."

That dragon kept trying to protect, no hide it's back.

And Liana-sama and Helm were supposed to be riding it shortly before it began it's rampage.

"...I think someone else is up there."

"Huh?"

I don't know if Helm or Liana are still alive, but if there was any chance they would be up there.

"I don't really get it, but i'll help."

"Me too."

"Good, start chanting, I need both of you to cast Wind Curtain at the same time."

Wind curtain is normally used to blow away a large amount of incoming projectiles, but it could be used in another way.

I mounted back up on Aceis, then I had him spread his wings.

We were going to catch the wind curtain and get on top of that thing once and for all.

"Alright, let's do it!"

Lynn and Yunyun both cast wind curtain, Aceis' wings caught the breeze and we accelerated quicker than ever before.

We still could not manage to beat the gold dragon's climb.

"Hyah!"

Because we couldn't stop in time, I thrust my spear forward as Aceis collided with the massive body of the gold dragon.

My spear made a 'shnk' sound as it managed to wedge itself deep in-between the dragon's scales and into it's flesh.

I honestly didn't expect that to work so well.

After colliding with the gold dragon, Aceis fell back to the ground, I however hung on to the gold dragon's side using my spear.

I don't think I could pull it out with my own strength, but at least I'll be able to climb onto the dragon back now.

I pulled myself up onto the dragon's back, not only was there a carriage mounted on it's back, they had built an entire wooden platform around it.

Well it was large enough to carry a legion of knights, so I can understand why.

By the way, the platform is what caught fire earlier, but for now I focused on the carriage in the middle of the dragon's back.

If Liana was still alive she had to be in there.

Balancing myself on the moving dragon, I made my way over to the carriage and opened the door.

Helm and Liana were both alive inside.

"Helm, what the hell happened?"

But just as I was saying that.

"Rein-kun! Look out!"

Helm thrust his spear at me.

"Gahh! That was too close! What are you doing?!"

Helm didn't answer, he balanced himself and thrust at me again.

"Stop it! Helm stop this!"

Liana latched herself onto Helm and tried to get him to stop.

"Get off me!"

I don't know what had gotten into Helm.

One thing is for sure, he sucks with a spear.

I'm standing here unarmed and wide open, yet he still manages to miss.

Helm slashed at me with his spear, this time I advanced and caught it by the shaft..

Why would you even swing a spear like that? It's a spear, not a sword or a halberd.

"Would you stop that!? I'm here to rescue you guys!"

"I don't need it."

What was going on?

"Rein-kun! Helm is still controlling the dragon!" Liana shouted.

"Huh?"

What did she say?

"I guess there's no use trying to hide it."

Suddenly I felt the ground, no the dragon move.

We were flying again.

Helm took his hand off his pendant and kicked at me to try and get his spear free.

It hurt but it's fine.

I've gotten into dozens of street fights in Axel, I'm more than used to taking some hits.

Helm and I wrestled for the spear.

"Why are you doing this Helm? Weren't you just hailed as a national hero a while ago?"

"Isn't it obvious? Because this country's nobility sucks! Ahh aside from Liana of course."

"I can't disagree there… the king is even worse."

"Yes definitely."

"He makes such large, or even impossible demands and expects everything to go as he ordered."

"Not to mention how he never listens to reason, or even tries to acknowledge anyone other than his favorites."

Wait why are we suddenly agreeing with each other?

"Don't speak about father that way! I mean you aren't wrong, but still..." Liana shouted

"Then why don't you do something about him?"

"Yeah, if King Clayton will listen to anyone it's his own daughter."

"Ehhh? Why are you both turning against me?"

Yeah what was going on here?

"The king aside, are you really going to destroy your own country?"

"Of course, it's nothing but bad memories anyways."

"Huh?"

"You weren't the only dragon knight you know, I was training my way towards the dragon knight job, but just because you were a little bit better, king Clayton completely ignored my existence until you kidnapped the princess."

That's not surprising, but I don't think I was just "a little bit better" than you, considering you couldn't even hit me with your spear earlier.

"Then of course, nobody bats an eye when I mention I can also become a dragon knight, yet the moment I took control of this dragon all the other nobles started showering me with proposals. Trash, all of them, it pisses me off just thinking about them. I really lucked out when I found this item." Helm bragged, jabbing his thumb at the pendant he was wearing.

"It was originally a divine relic from Belzerg that could summon and control monsters, although for some reason only the "control" feature works since i'm not it's rightful owner, but that doesn't matter!"

Divine relic that can control monsters?

That sounds somewhat familiar but I can't wrap my head around it.

Well at least that clears up the dragon's strange behavior, Helm was probably controlling it the whole time.

Huh?

There was a swirl of energy massing above us.

Helm must have realized it too, because he stopped his monologue and looked upwards.

Wait a second, Helm flew us away and now the dragon is stopped...

I can only think of one reason why there would be a swirl of magic energy forming...

Helm probably realized something was up.

I grabbed Liana and the three of us dove off the dragon.

"Explosion!"

I knew it.

That maniac loli wouldn't pass up such an opportunity.

The blast from the explosion completely obliterated everything on the dragon's back and forced the gold dragon to the ground.

I fell to the ground, princess Liana landed on top of me.

"Ow."

"Rein-kun! Heal! Heal! Heal!"

"Thank you."

Off too the side, Helm landed on his back.

As for the culprit behind all this, she was laying down face first a good distance away from us.

I had some words for her.

"Hey you! Don't just cast explosion while I'm still in the blast radius! Forget killing me, you could have killed this country's princess!"

"How was I supposed to know you were all up there? By the way, can you give me a hand here?"

"Go get Yunyun to carry you, I'm busy this time."

In the meantime Helm had recovered from his fall.

"You… So you were trying to distract me? Too bad! As long I still have this divine relic, I'll control the most powerful beast in this country. I still can't believe how lucky I was to find such an item on the black market! I'll get back at this good for nothing country."

"Who is that?" Megumin asked.

Does she not recognize Helm? Oh wait no she just can't see him from her position on the ground.

"The hero turned villain who is trying to destroy the capital."

"Oh, in that case you don't have to worry about a thing."

"The dragon survived the explosion, you know…"

"Not that, Kazuma told me that anyone who stops to give a speech and reveal their plans as a final farewell is a second rate villain who always loses in the end. I think he called it a cliche or something."

"You know I can hear you still…" Helm muttered.

I saw Helm do something with the pendant around his neck, then the gold dragon got back up and Helm hopped back on.

"Sure I stopped to talk, but that doesn't mean i've lost yet! Though I agree that doing so presented a weakness of mine. But no worries! Once I'm done here I will scour the black markets and buy a divine relic that prevents me from revealing my plans in front of my enemies! HAHA!..."

"..."

"... Uhh…. I did it again didn't I."

I couldn't help but nod.

Helm mounted the ancient gold dragon and took flight again, what should I do here?

Lynn and the others had arrived, along with everyone else who was trying to protect the city, but they had to scatter as Helm's gold dragon began to strafe us with it's fire breath.

"Dust? What's going on? Who is that on top of the dragon?" Lynn asked.

"It's Helm, the new dragon knight."

The reason the dragon was hiding it's back earlier was probably because Helm didn't want to reveal himself.

I guess now that I knew he was behind all this, there was no point in hiding on the dragon's back. That meant he would be using that dragon much more efficiently now.

What is worse was that my spear was still wedged in the side of that ancient gold dragon.

"What!? Is it really?! Why would Helm still be up there?" That was Zorn, still leading a company of knights."

"Isn't it obvious? He's the one controlling the dragon."

"No way, Helm wouldn't do such a thing."

"It's true." Liana chimed in.

"Ahh Liana-sama! I am glad you are safe! Quickly we must have Amelda teleport you to safety."

Zorn turned to his knights.

"Phalanx formation, distract that beast while we evacuate the princess!"

"Ahh wait, I want to stay and help! I've learned recovery magic so I won't be a burden!"

"We'll help too!" That was Taylor, directing Yunyun, Keith and Lynn to help the knights.

"I need a spear, can someone get me a spear!?"

One of the knights tossed one over, I thanked him, then called for my own dragons.

Alright Helm, let's see if your flying skills are any better than your spearmanship.

"Ahh wait! Rein-kunnnnn!"

I think Liana wanted to ride with me, but I'm not making that mistake again.

If the king found out I took the princess into battle, my head would roll.

Besides, I had made a promise, I wouldn't use a spear unless I was protecting Liana or something I really cared for.

I'm using a spear right now, so that mean't I had to protect her. I couldn't expose her to any more danger.

I left her behind and went after Helm.

* * *

I don't think I can bring down that gold dragon, but if I can take out Helm…

We twisted and rolled in the sky, our dragons attacking with their fiery breath at range, while we jousted whenever we got close.

Everytime it looked like I'd get caught in the flames, i'd hop off my current dragon and land on the other.

A dragon could survive a direct hit from another dragon's flame, but not too many.

There had to be another way to knock Helm to the ground.

Oh I know!

"Lynn! Heads up!"

"Wha? Ekk!"

I swooped down and snatched Lynn off the ground.

"What are you doing Dust! I nearly had a heart attack!"

"I need to take out Helm somehow, do you think you can cast magic like this?"

"Oh ummm, i'll try."

I now had Lynn as a passenger.

"Ahh! Why are we going upside down?!"

Lynn panicked as we rolled over and dove to avoid an incoming attack.

"Calm down, it's the only way to avoid that fire breath! Hurry up and chant already."

"It would be much easier if I wasn't scared for my life!"

Well it's her first time flying so I can't blame her.

Maybe I should have snatched up Yunyun instead.

Why did I pick Lynn again?

"Dust careful!"

"Hmm? Ahh!"

Lynn and I both ducked as a pole stuck in the gold dragon's side nearly took our heads off.

Say, that's the spear the king gave me, it was still lodged in the gold dragon's side, I thought it would have fallen out by now.

I couldn't even see the tip of it anymore, it must have been lodged deep inside the dragon's flesh if it still wouldn't fall out.

The reason why I'm bringing it up now is because that spear sticking out for the dragon's side nearly took my head off!

Fall out already! I want to use you against Helm!

It would be much better used in my hands rather than sticking out of the dragon giving me another obstacle.

That aside, Lynn was trying to aim her magic at Helm, but it was hard with all this flying and dodging.

Helm was doing his best to prevent us from targeting him, he rarely exposed himself for attack and was mainly using the abilities of the ancient gold dragon.

I tried flying higher, then diving down to get closer to Helm.

"Eekkk! What are you doing Dust!"

I heard Lynn scream again as she tightened her hold on me out of fear.

"I'm trying to get in closer for a shot at Helm! Hurry up and cast something."

"How am I supposed to cast anything when both my arms are stuck hanging on for life!"

"Then what? Am I supposed to slow down?!"

I'll show her.

"Ahh! Dust!"

As soon as we slowed down, a massive cone of flame headed our way.

I shoved Lynn off then leapt after her as Aceis caught both of us.

"You see."

Lynn smacked me in the back of the head.

"You idiot! You could have just told me!"

Dammit she is very annoying.

"Just hold on and start chanting!"

"At least let me get used to this first!"

"There's no time! Arghh why didn't I pick up Yunyun instead! At least I'd feel more than just bare ribs rubbing against my back if she was clinging on to me!"

"Careful, if you keep saying this like that, i'll cast Lightning on you out of habit."

There she is, using Lightning to solve all her problems again.

"If you can cast Lightning on me you can cast it at Helm!"

"I'm trying too! I've completed the chant but I can't get a clear shot at him! Why don't you fly me to a better angle!"

"I'm doing the best I can here!"

You simply can't outmaneuver something that was more maneuverable.

Argh, at this rate we will never hit Helm.

As I tried desperately to think of another way, my eyes centered on that spear, still lodged in the gold dragon's side.

I said earlier that it had a metal coating on it's shaft for extra durability.

I wonder... a spear like that should be able to conduct electricity.

Casting Lightning on the gold dragon had little to no effect because it was so well protected, but the spear had stabbed between the dragon's scales and into it's flesh.

It was worth a shot.

"Lynn, cast Lightning on the spear there, sticking out of the side!"

"Hmm? Ahh I see it! Lightning!"

A very familiar bolt of blue shot out from Lynn's staff and towards the dragon.

It's the same spell that threatened me so often in Axel, nice to see it used to my advantage for once.

The Lightning spell went down the spear, past the dragon's tough exterior and into it's flesh.

The gold dragon let out a painful roar and started bucking about, I think it worked!

"Again!"

"Lightning! Lightning! Lightning!"

With each lightning, the dragon got weaker, but Lightning was still only an intermediate spell, it couldn't kill a dragon that strong.

But it was weakening it, I could see Helm struggling to keep the dragon under control.

Despite his best efforts, Helm could not stop the dragon from landing due to how weak it got.

This was my chance.

"Fly Lynn back to the ground, Aceis."

I said before leaping onto the ancient gold dragon.

A surprised Helm stood up to face me, but i'm not worried.

"You said that I was only a little better than you, but now I'm going to show you just how big of a difference there is between us!"

"Just you try it!" Helm said, taking a defensive stance.

I wasn't worried.

"Didn't you say a dragon left a scar on your chest? Allow me to reopen that wound, after all it wasn't actually left by a dragon, but a spear, correct?"

I still remember Helm showing me that scar while we were hunting the gold dragon together.

It didn't look like anything a dragon could leave, it looked more like Helm had been stabbed there before by a spear.

I bet that fool somehow managed to stab himself while training.

There was a look of shock in Helm's eyes, perhaps my prediction was correct.

I took aim and thrust my spear at him.

The only way to block an attack using a spear was to use the shaft, that made blocking thrust attacks difficult.

Helm probably took my words seriously, because he tried to defend the scar on his chest, but I didn't aim for that.

The tip of my spear went towards his neck, or rather the item he was wearing around it.

I don't think I destroyed the item, but I cut the chain holding it around Helm neck.

I watched as the pendant fell from Helm and off to the ground.

"Ahh! What have you-"

"Did you think I would be stupid enough to announce my plans to your face? Don't think that I'm-"

Before either of us could finish, the ancient gold dragon flung us both off.

It began to rise back into the sky, giving me a look of gratitude.

I get it, the reason why it always looking like it was pleading for something is because Helm was controlling it against its own will.

Guess that divine relic couldn't control a monster's thoughts.

The dragon flew off before it could suffer any more harm from us humans, leaving Helm defenseless on the ground.

"I don't get it, you were unfairly exiled by the king were you not? Why would you still protect this country?" Helm asked, getting back onto his feet.

It was very simple.

"Before I left-"

As I started talking, Helm attacked me with his spear, but as I had expected he was awful with it. I didn't even need to stop talking to block his attacks.

It looked like he would keep fighting till the very end.

I noticed that Lynn, Yunyun, Keith, Taylor, Megumin (being carried by Taylor), Zorn, Amelda and the local knights and adventurers were surrounding us.

It was over for Helm.

"I made a promise with princess Liana; I'll always be her knight, so I won't use a spear unless i'm protecting her or something I care about."

I kept blocking Helm's wildly aimed thrusts.

"I don't care about this country nor the king, you could have destroyed it all you want, but you put Liana in danger."

Alright time to end this.

"That means i'll use my spear and do whatever it takes to stop you, so I really can't hold back now."

With that I put my weight forward, delivering a single decisive blow.

* * *

**A/N: **Has the 5th Dust spinoff come out yet? I'm not sure. I promised I'd get this chapter out before it was released but I ended up getting into some writers block on the way, that delayed this chapter for about a week.

From what i've seen and heard, the 5th Dust spinoff will feature the princess from Dust's past, as well as another person, I can't wait to read it. Until then, I hope you enjoy this fanfic, all that is left to come is the epilogue.


	7. A Well Earned Celebration for the Knight

**A/N:** What's this? this was supposed to be the epilogue! But it as unexpectedly grown into a whole new chapter!?

Oh well, I don't want to just leave anything hanging, this is a fanfic after all, so it's unlikely there will ever be a follow up story with this headcanon. With that in mind I want to give Dust a happy ending, since Dust always seems to find a way to become broke again after each of his spinoffs.

I'll post the epilogue tomorrow, for now I hope you enjoy this extra chapter.

* * *

**A Well Earned Celebration for this Knight**

"For the brave adventurers who fought against an impossibly strong to protect the country, we have an especially generous reward waiting for you."

I was standing in a rather large group of adventurers in the throne room of Gaudveil castle.

Helm was defeated, as for the ancient gold dragon, it seems to have returned to it's nest to lick it's wounds.

Though Helm was apparently controlling it the whole time, if my experience with dragons is still trustworthy, that dragon won't cause unnecessary harm anymore. It had a nest with enough food to last it a few decades, there was no reason for it to come attack humans.

As for the magic item Helm bought off the black market…

"This is quite an amazing item! I don't think there is a single magic item craftsman in the world who can make such a thing!"

"S-say Megumin, you aren't about to do something unreasonable like testing it in the castle are you?"

Since the Crimson Demons are experts in the field of magic, we gave the item to Megumin Yunyun for them to study.

Although doing so was probably just as dangerous as leaving it in Helm's hands.

"How could I not? When that noble Alderp had it, the ability to summon was unaffected and the ability to control was sealed, but when Helm had it, it was the opposite! Who knows what would happen if I tried using it!"

"No I won't have to do such a thing! We are taking back and giving it to Chris so she can properly seal it!"

The item Helm had turned out to be the same one that fat landlord Alderp used back when he tried to marry Darkness.

Apparently Megumin and Yunyun heard about the item going missing while they were playing thieves.

Oh whatever, none of my business.

I'm just waiting for my reward.

I didn't fight Helm for nothing.

I watched as a row of servants handed bags full of eris to each adventurer in the room.

Lynn, Taylor, Keith, Megumin and Yunyun got their shares too, even though they didn't do much.

Finally it was my turn….

"Hey what's the meaning of this?! Where's my reward!"

For some reason the servants handing out rewards completely ignored me.

From his throne, the king tilted his head in confusion "Hmm? Why would you be getting a reward?"

Stop trying to play dumb! Plus you're an old man! don't tilt your head like some cute girl!

"Isn't it obvious! I played the biggest part in defeating Helm and the dragon!"

"Oh? Well that's strange, because I recall you staying in your room at the castle the whole time. Since you never accepted the emergency quest from the guild, you did not qualify for a reward."

"That's bullshit! The whole reason I came back was for the quest!"

Well it's true that I wanted to just run at first but still! I did practically all the work!

"Hey if I remember correctly, the only reason Dust left Belzerg was because of a dragon quest." Oh Taylor was standing up for me?

"Yeah it was! Aren't you treating Dust a bit to unfairly?"

"I mean sure Dust often has awful luck when it comes to money, but denying him a reward when he did most of the work just isn't right."

Keith and Lynn too!

I think I'll elevate my impression of these guys a bit.

They were my companions after all.

"Even though Dust revealed his secret to protect the capital… could you be lower than him?"

"I don't mind our deliquinent losing some cash, but for some reason your behavior makes me want to cast explosion…"

Even Yunyun and Megumin joined in.

"Ahh I see you are standing up for your party member, as expected of a close knit group of adventurers. But look around, no one else here shares your thoughts." The King gestured at the surrounding adventurers and knights.

They exchanged glances, yet none of them spoke a word.

Come on! You all saw me ride into battle with not one, but two dragons! Nobody else can do that here!

I saw Zorn and Amelda's faces in the crowd, they looked as if they weren't sure what to do.

Actually seems like everyone else in the room had the same expression.

Maybe they were just afraid of speaking up against the king.

I could see a faint smile on the king's face as the surrounding knights and adventurers kept their mouths shut.

"Well? Is there anyone here NOT from Belzerg who believes that Rein should receive a reward?!"

"I do!"

Pushing her way past servants and maids, princess Liana marched to the center of the room and stood in front of me.

"I was there! I saw Rein bravely take on Helm and the gold dragon."

"Liana, my daughter, I think you are a bit confused after all the chaos. You should return to your room so that the priests can continue treating your wounds…"

"I can heal myself thank you. More importantly, I think you've been treating Rein much too unfairly ever since his return!"

"Nonsense! I treat all my subjects equally! If Rein really did participate, why is it that no one aside from his party has said anything?"

"Because they are your subjects! Nobody from Gaudveil would openly speak out against you! But look at their faces, you can tell that they are remaining quiet out of fear."

Is Liana entering her rebellious phase? Or is this because she wants to make up for the past?

"In my eyes, they aren't speaking because they know I speak the truth. My decision is final, Rein will not receive a single eris from this kingdom!"

Liana suddenly started clinging on to my arm.

"In that case, I shall be his reward!"

That brought on surprised gasps from all the nobles in the room.

"Liana-sama!?"

"Liana! My daughter! Have you gone mad!?"

"It's not I who is mad, aren't you the one purposely mistreating Rein simply because we went out for a ride all those years ago?"

"I see, Liana you are still young, you don't know that there are dangerous things outside of Gaudveil, Rein put you in grave danger when he took you away that one time. It's a miracle that a young fragile girl like yourself made it back unscathed."

"Young? Fragile? Perhaps I was at some point, even selfish maybe. But I've grown, take a look!"

Liana held out her left arm, then she grabbed a sword from the nearest adventurer.

"Hey!"

Making sure all eyes were on her, Liana made a large and deep gash on her left forearm.

Okay that's a bit too far, I did not want to see that. Liana raised her arm, giving everyone a good view of her blood seeping out rapidly, staining her dress and dripping onto the marble floors.

Seeing this sight, The king went pale, he looked as if he would pass out at any moment.

"You see father, I'm not a little girl anymore. I'm not even bothered by a wound this bad."

The by now the king had lost the ability to stand and fell back onto his throne. There was also quite a lot of sweat dripping down his forehead.

"Heal."

Liana quickly healed the cut, within seconds the gash had sealed itself up and vanished.

"I understand you are worried about my well being, but you cannot expect me to stay a princess forever. Is it not I who will someday rule the kingdom? How can I become a queen if I cannot even leave the castle?"

"Yes yes you've made your point. Please do not harm yourself again."

"Does it really bother you that much? Even more than it bothers myself?"

"Of course! You're the splitting image of your mother, how could I be okay with any harm inflicted upon you?"

"And yet it was you who drove Rein out in the first place. Do you know how hard it was for me knowing that what happened to Rein was because of a request I made?!"

"You were telling the truth?!"

"What? Did you think I was just being generous to Rein? If you can't even tell whether or not I'm telling the truth, doesn't that make you unfit to judge Rein now?"

The king sighed "My... how you've grown so much in such a short time…"

Seeing Liana go so far to prove a point, the king seemed to finally relent.

"Give Rein the reward for the emergency quest." The king commanded

"Don't forget the reward for the original subjugation request." Liana reminded "And prepare a banquet for Rein and his companions."

"What?!"

"What? You held a banquet for Helm when he supposedly tamed the dragon, so isn't it only correct to hold an even bigger banquet for the one who actually defeated it?"

"That…. I….. very well, we will hold a banquet commending Rein Chelka's effort tonight. Do you have any further demands?"

"No father."

With that I found myself with more eris than I expected.

Liana left the throne room as soon as I got my reward.

She wanted to make up for getting me banished and I think she's done more than enough.

I should find a way to thank her….

* * *

The banquet was in full swing.

There were tables lined with high quality treats.

Nobles wearing expensive clothes chatted and danced all around.

As for my companions, they were doing their best to fit in...

We had all borrowed suits and dresses so our appearances all matched the occasion, but unlike me the others were still out of place.

Keith was trying to hit on some noble women and failing, Taylor didn't really know what to do, Lynn was watching some nobles dance and trying to follow along.

Yunyun was nowhere to be found….

Megumin was aggressively eating as much as she could.

As for Liana, she and the king were chatting with high ranking nobles.

I could see Zorn standing near them, joining in on the conversation, but I didn't see Amelda anywhere…

Liana occasionally stole a glance at me, I guess she wanted to talk but was too busy with the other nobles.

Well I'm technically a commoner now, so I shouldn't be making a scene by acting all familiar with her in front of everyone.

Though I really did want to thank her.

Oh well I'll find a way to get to her later.

I think i'll have a light snack for now.

It's not everyday you get to eat rich exp packed foods.

At the same time maybe I should do something about this country bumpkin who has been scaring people away from the food containers.

"Oi what's with you? You keep eating like that and you'll scare off Kazuma and any other guy you meet."

"Hmm?! U-umm I know… I mean I'm in my growth period right now so it doesn't matter!"

Huh? That didn't sound like Megumin…

There is only one person I know who eats this much and is insecure about it.

"Hey don't tell me, you are actually Amelda?"

"How di- No I am the crimson demon archmage Megumin."

"Then why aren't you doing your regular introduction?"

Also the real Megumin would have lashed out at me after my first sentence.

The fake Megumin lowered her voice to a whisper.

"Right you've caught me, I'm Amelda."

"Why do you look like Megumin?"

"King Clayton had me learn the advanced transformation spell "shape change" so I could serve as Liana-sama's body double. I'm just making use of it now."

Oh I see, she's too embarrassed to eat in front of other nobles so she disguised herself as Megumin, who eats almost as much.

"So where's the real Megumin then?"

"In exchange for letting me pose as her, Megumin wanted to cast explosion over the capital alongside the fireworks. She and the other Crimson Demon already left to prepare."

So that's why Yunyun wasn't present...

Megumin really can't go a day without casting explosion…

"Well then, bon appetit I guess."

I left Amelda and walked over to Lynn, who was silently observing the nobles waltz on the dance floor.

"Have you been taking loner lessons from Yunyun? Don't just stand there silently staring at people."

"You… even though you were actually cool for once, you've gone and reverted back to your usual self."

"That's just who I am after all. Hey instead of just watching with envy, why don't you dance with me?"

"No thanks, you are just going to take advantage of the fact that I have no dancing experience to touch me is certain places under the guise of teaching, aren't you?"

"Great, now that you've suggested it, I actually want to do that."

"Careful, I'm going to cast Lightning if you keep that up."

"Hey don't ruin the mood with your magic! For the record I was genuinely offering to dance with you without any ulterior motives."

"Since When do you not have any ulterior motives? Aren't you the type to only do something if it benefits yourself?"

Well she's not wrong.

"Look, do you want to dance or not."

"Fine, just let me complete my chant first, just in case."

"Don't shoot magic off in a royal banquet!"

"Alright done. Now then, let's dance."

"Don't pretend you didn't hear me!"

Even though I was slightly concerned about Lynn's magic spell, I placed one arm respectfully around Lynn's waist, took her hand and accompanied her into a slow waltz.

I was a noble at one point, so I was used to dancing like this.

Lynn on the other hand….

"Ow, you're stepping on my toes!"

"Give me a break, it's my first time. No wait, why is it that you can dance better than I can?"

"Didn't you figure it out yet? I was a noble once, we always dance at these kinds of gatherings."

"What happened to keeping your past secret?"

"What's the point, everyone has already seen me fight as a dragon knight."

Yeah, there is no use hiding it now.

I think i'll just take this time to show off my past a little, then I'll go back to being Axel's resident deliquinent.

I should also convince my party to keep their mouths shut, if the guild heard of my past, Luna will probably start pushing all sorts of difficult quests on me.

Lynn caught on pretty quick, soon both of us were dancing to the beat.

In the corner of my eye, I could see Liana watching us with envy.

I should offer her a dance next, after all she has done so much to try and improve my stay here.

This trip started off like hell, but in the end it turned out pretty good.

I got my reward, I got to see the girl from my past and I got to relax in the lap of luxury.

Honestly it makes me kinda want to stay, but sadly I'm still not welcome back here.

Until Liana takes over the kingdom, I don't think I'll ever get my family' noble status back.

Speaking of family, I wonder how my folks are doing?

We were separated when we were banished so I don't really know where they are.

Liana finished chatting with the nobles was sped towards Lynn and I on the dance floor.

If I don't offer her a dance now, she'll probably complain a great deal later.

"Ahh sorry Lynn, but I'm going to have to stop here."

"Hmm?" Lynn was confused at first, but all it took was one glance at Liana to read the mood.

"I understand, I guess I'll go dance with Taylor."

Lynn left and I took Liana's hand.

As we started to dance, I notice the band switch to a quicker paced song. I also felt many sets of eyes on me…

Looking around I noticed that the other nobles had made room for Liana and I.

A princess and a former dragon knight, two characters from a story famous among the nobility of the world, dancing the night away together...

Did my life suddenly turn into a children's fairy tale?

I shouldn't ruin the moment thinking about it, no I should take this time to properly thank Liana.

It was thanks to her efforts that I'd have an adventure like this.

I've lost nothing and gained plenty, that was a win in my book…

Actually now that I think about it, I did lose something… No not yet, I still had time to get it back...

"Say Liana, for old times sake, would you care to join me in a stroll through the stars?"

There was one thing I had to do before I left and I also wanted to thank Liana right? If I took her with me, i'd accomplish both at once.

And Liana's bright smile indicated that she was looking forward to it.

"Let's wait until there are less eyes on us, then we'll meet on the balcony."

Just like last time…

I'm not about to take her away and put the country in a panic again, I just want to take her out to relive the past.

Normally I say real men don't care about the past and look to the future, but this time I'll do the opposite.

Besides, I still had to recover the sword I had left in the gold dragon's nest.

* * *

**Intermission: The Delinquent and the Gift of the Starry Sky**

Who knew Dust could dance that well?

Who knew Dust was such a skilled knight?

Who knew Dust actually loved somebody?

I knew it was strange when Dust left Axel with some nobles, but to think we would run into one surprise after another.

I always thought Dust was hiding something, but I would never have guessed all this.

If only he had just told me instead of making me snoop around…

Well despite everything Dust is still Dust, if we had known he was a dragon knight we would have expected much more of him.

"Our local delinquent turned out to be quite the hero did he?"

I agreed with Taylor.

"I wish Dust would put as much effort into our usual quests, things would be much easier that way."

"Who knows, do you think Dust might change now that we know his past?"

I laughed "No way."

Taylor and I were dancing, Dust just taught me how to do so a moment ago and I passed it on to Taylor.

Keith on the other hand was binge eating, probably after getting nowhere with the ladies in Gaudveil.

"Say, why don't we check up on our archer friend?"

Taylor and I approached Keith, who appeared to be lost in thought.

"Hey Keith, what's bothering you?"

"Ahh! Lynn, Taylor, don't sneak up on me like that. Weren't you two dancing together a moment ago?"

Aren't you the one with the Farsight skill that lets you see clearly at range? How did you not see us coming?

"We just came to check up on you, why are you looking so glum?"

"Can't you tell?! I'm the only guy in our party with zero romantic experience! Even Taylor managed to experience a date with a girl, even though that girl turned out to be a swindler…. But still!"

Oh I see.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much."

"Really? You should though, unlike Luna your figure isn't nearly as impressive, soon you'll end up as a spinster."

I still had my Lightning spell chanted from earlier, maybe I should unleash it on Keith this time…

"I still have enough years ahead of me! Don't take over Dust's role of harassing me now that he's gone."

"Hey speaking of which, where did Dust head off too?"

Taylor seems to have noticed Dust's absence.

"He was dancing with the princess a moment ago."

Keith looked up at us.

"Didn't you guys see? Dust and the princess snuck out of the banquet a while ago."

What?

"Well apparently those two were once lovers so it's only expected of them to do lover things now that they've been reunited…"

"Gahhhh!"

My words must have pushed Keith even further off the edge.

"What? Grrr that Rein! When he gets back I'll have his head!"

On the other side of the hall, the king was making a fuss.

It seems that Dust really did take that princess away again.

He never learns does he?

A while later, a bright orange explosion blasted away the clouds in the sky.

Some of the nobles panicked at first, but the king quickly reassured them that this was just part of the planned fireworks event.

Sure enough the explosion was soon followed by fireworks.

As for the source of the explosion.

"Hahaha! Who says the best must come last? My Explosion made those fireworks look like sparks in comparison!"

Megumin was happily boasting as Yunyun teleported into the banquet hall carrying her on her back.

"There, now i'll set you down on the side. After all you aren't expecting me to carry you during this whole banquet are you?"

"And why would you do that? Aren't you a loner who can't even start a conversation, why don't we roam around together and make some friends?"

"F-friends….. Ahh no I don't need your help!"

"Come on, at least bring me over to the balcony so we can watch the fireworks together."

"Didn't you just say those fireworks couldn't compare to Explosion?"

"Exactly! I want to laugh at the pathetic fireworks which challenge the awesomeness of my Explosion!"

With a sigh, Yunyun carried Megumin over to the terrace which had begun to fill with people watching the fireworks.

"Come on Lynn, Keith, let's not miss the show."

A dejected Keith and I followed Taylor to the terrace.

There wasn't a fireworks show during that last banquet, I guess this time they really went all out with the celebration this time.

As we watched the sky fill with vibrant colours, we caught sight of a large winged creature in the distance.

Actually it wasn't just one, it was accompanied by two smaller ones.

"Ahh! What's that dragon doing here again? Somebody go get Rein!" The king ordered as he recognized the sight of the ancient gold dragon.

"Hey, is that Dust?" Keith said.

He was squinting at the approaching dragon, probably using his Farsight skill.

And he was right.

"Hey guys! Like my new dragon!?"

Dust was standing on the back of the ancient gold dragon, the very same one that just attacked the capital hours ago. It was flanked by the two dragons Dust previously rode.

Colours from the fireworks exploded behind him.

The way he stood was full of confidence, I don't think I've ever seen Dust that way before.

The dragons slowed to a halt and hovered by the terrace.

Even though the King was mad at Dust a moment ago, he showed no sign of anger as he spoke to him.

"R-R-Rein? W-what are you doing?"

"Oh I just went back to the nest to retrieve the sword your daughter gave me."

Dust patted a familiar looking sword, which was back in it's sheath at his side.

"I figured since i'm there, I might as well properly tame this dragon and made sure it doesn't have any hard feelings. Unlike that inept Helm who enslaved her with some expensive pendant, I'm not using any magic item at all, turns out this dragon never wanted to attack the country in the first place, it's actually thankful that I took out Helm so it will be fighting by my side now. Isn't that right girl?"

The dragon made a soft rumbling sound of approval.

It didn't seem like the nobles were any less scared of the beast though, they had backed away from the edge of the terrace, the king included.

I saw a smug grin on Dust's face when he noticed the king's fear.

"Oh by the way, Liana is up here too."

Dust motioned at someone behind him

"Hello father!" Liana happily waved at the king.

"I'm taking your daughter out for another flight? You don't have a problem with that? Do you?"

"Uhh heh… nope not at all!" I could see the sweat flowing down the king's cheek, guess he wouldn't be speaking against Dust when he's in possession of such a strong dragon.

"Good, then I'll see you all in an hour."

Then Dust turned to the rest of us.

"Oh Lynn, Yunyun, you two wanna join us? There's more than enough space up here for both of you."

"Really?!"

Why am I so excited?

"Ahh Taylor-san, please take care of Megumin for me."

"What are you saying? Don't drop me off to run away with some delinquent!"

"If I bring you with me I won't be able to hold on to the dragon!"

"Then I'll hold on for you! Hey no! Don't put me down! I want to ride as well! I need to be able to brag to Kazuma and convince him to go on more adventures!"

Despite her protests, Megumin was left with Taylor and Yunyun and I leapt aboard the dragon.

"Dust is flying away with a harem….." I heard Keith mutter, I wanted to correct him, but we were already flying away.

I have zero romantic interest in Dust, I don't know about Yunyun, but Dust is not the kind to go for someone as young as her.

This is just Dust enjoying the company of friends after all! If there actually are enough insane women out there to form a harem around Dust, I won't be a part of it!

Though I can see why princess Liana wanted to ride a dragon, this is exhilarating!

I couldn't properly appreciate it during the fight against Helm because I was trying not to die, but now I can really enjoy this!

The speed is like nothing I've experienced before! I don't think there is any creature that could fly this fast!

The scenery around us changed incredibly fast, not long after we left the capital we flew over a thick forest, then along a river in an open valley and then a golden canyon.

The gold dragon flew smoothy and steadily so we didn't even need to hang on to anything, we simply stood by and admired the view.

I don't think anyone else in the world could see a sight like this….

After a while Dust took us even higher.

We stopped ascending just as the air was beginning to thin.

"Oh! I can see the capital from here!" Liana pointed at some lights in the distance.

"Hmm? Where!?"

Yunyun and I followed Liana finger towards a set of lights which belongs to Gaudveil castle.

To think that we were there just moments ago, now it was but a speck in the horizon.

"Waaaa! To think I'd be able to experience such a thing…. I must write about this to my dad... Funifura and Dodonko too... Oh and Aure!" Yunyun said.

I agree, this was definitely something to write about.

We glided peacefully through the starry sky.

Liana was having fun identifying the towns below us, while Yunyun was gazing at the stars.

I looked at Dust, who checked to see if everyone was enjoying themselves…

When he met my gaze, he just smiled and went back to flying the dragon.

I got to see a rare side of Dust today…

"Okay, hang on tight everyone, we are going full speed back to the capital!'

Now I'm fairly certain that Dust was only doing that to feel the three of us clinging on to him, but I won't question it, just for today.

If I did point it out, Dust would just take the opportunity to note that I was the only flat chest girl present.

"Waahhh! This is even faster than the floating carriage! Woooooooo!" I wouldn't normally have outbursts like this, but I can't help it.

We were only flying at full speed for a few seconds, before we knew it, we were slowing down again.

We had returned to the castle's banquet in a flash.

Yunyun and I disembarked with exuberant faces.

Taylor, Megumin and Keith came out to meet us.

"Hey Dust, I want to ride too, you wouldn't pass up the chance to give a ride to the master of explosion magic would you?"

"So now you suddenly remember my name! Well too bad I'm spending the night with Liana, I'll see you all tomorrow."

Dust and Liana didn't get off the dragon.

I could only guess what would happen now….

Taylor, Keith and I watched as Dust and his princess flew off into the distance...


	8. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

The next day we were ready to head back to Axel.

By the way Keith and Yunyun wouldn't stop bothering me by asking what Liana and I did last night.

I was reunited with the one girl I loved so long ago, what do you think happened?

Anyways we were planning to head back using Yunyun's teleport.

I didn't bring anything with me, so I didn't have much to pack.

Instead I took the time to say goodbye to everyone I knew..

Aside from the king, who told me to hurry up and leave, the other nobles I recognized properly thanked me for saving the capital, bid me farewell and wished me luck in any future endeavors.

Knowing my usual luck in Belzerg, I think I'll need it.

As my companions and I all gathered beside Yunyun, Liana and her retainers showed up.

"Wait hold on! There is something I need to say before you leave!"

Liana took my hand and pulled me away.

"Hey why am I being dragged along with you?"

For some reason Liana took Lynn as well.

"There is something I want both of you to know, what I feel for Rein-kun, it's more than just a foolish young girl's first love. But I am also the princess, so the chances of us actually getting together are slim…."

"...Why are you saying this?" Lynn asked

"Well what I'm saying is… You won't have to worry Lynn, I'm fine with being the mistress!"

"Just what are you saying?!"

Ahh I see there is some misunderstanding here.

"Hey, just so you know Lynn isn't really my type."

"That's my line! Don't just suddenly reject me out of the blue!"

Liana giggled "Ahh I wish I could take your place."

"Go ahead! I'll gladly leave this delinquent in your hands."

Liana smiled like a child playing a prank.

"Well that aside, I have something to say to Rein alone."

Lynn walked away, though she was pouting for some reason.

"You know she may seem harsh, but she was also quite worried about your well being." Liana commented

"That's just fellow adventurers looking out for one another."

"Really? I wouldn't know."

Liana shooed away her retainers and spoke to me privately

"I want to add something to the promise we made before."

"The one about the spear?"

"Yeah, well actually think of it as a new promise. When I inherit the throne, I'll lift your punishment and give back your lost lands and title, until then feel free to chase after anyone as the infamous deliquinent Dust. Because the dragon knight Rein belongs in Gaudveil."

"So you're telling me not to go around saying I'm a dragon knight?"

"Yes"

"You know I've been doing that for years now…"

"And that's why I trust you! Rein-kun! I promise I'll make up for everything you've lost."

"There's really no need, you already did more than enough."

With a smile, princess Liana gave me a farewell kiss and waved as I returned to my companions.

Yunyun began chanting her teleport spell and a magic circle appeared on the floor, which promptly began to glow.

I waved goodbye to Liana, and her retainers Zorn and Amelda.

"Goodbye Rein, it was good seeing you again, if we locate your parents we will be sure to let them know that you're okay." Zorn said.

"Oh and don't worry, we'll take good care of your dragons this time!" Amelda added.

"Goodbye Zorn! Bye Amelda! Keep Liana-sama safe for me alright!"

"It is my duty after all."

"We will!"

And with that, our journey to Gaudveil was over.

* * *

As we reappeared at the gates of Axel, I was feeling content with myself.

I had a free stay in a castle, I got to reunite with the girl from my past and to top it all off, I made quite alot of money.

Lynn, Taylor and Keith got their rewards too, I'd expect our party to lay back and relax a bit, at least until our money runs dry again.

"A journey to another country, a battle between a legendary dragon knight and a corrupt noble and a royal banquet… This time I'll definitely convince Kazuma to go out on new adventures! Thank you for having me, now we shall part ways! Till we meet again!" Megumin bowed to us before flicking her cape and running towards Kazuma's mansion, her eyes glowing red with excitement.

"Ahh I guess I should say goodbye here too… Umm… I must write a letter to my friends back in the village soo ummm…. Thanks for having me…." Yunyun looked as if she was trying to follow Megumin example but didn't have the courage to do a flashy exit.

It's just me and my party now.

"Yo, i'm heading to the inn, gonna take a nap, see you guys later."

My companions looked at each other.

"Is this really the same guy from last night….." x3

Hey why are you all so perfectly in sync?

Ehh whatever, they aren't stopping me so I'll be off to the inn.

Ahh right, I should make a stop at the succubus store too…. Maybe later, that store isn't going anywhere.

I'll probably see Keith there, I mean he's got enough money so he should definitely be using that store's services…

Taylor and Lynn are probably just going to blow their cash on some new equipment then start dragging me back into quests.

What an annoying bunch…

Though I probably shouldn't complain too much and just lay back and wait for better things to come.

After all, they are the companions I'm stuck with until Liana succeeds her father…

I thought about the future as I laid back in my room, soon I found myself drifting off to sleep.

I did stay up quite late last night.

By the way, when I woke up again, I discovered that my money was missing. A quick run around Axel revealled that Lynn had snuck into my room and taken my reward money to pay off all my debts…

Apparently I borrowed money from a lot of adventurers too, so by the time everything was paid off, I barely had enough eris left for a beer…

Was this really the girl that Liana thought had feelings for me?

God dammit!

* * *

**A/N:** And so ends my take on Dust's past. You know, for a story that was originally planned to be a one-shot, I think it did pretty well, although I probably could have planned a little bit better... I did however, quite enjoy writing this. Though I may have made Dust less scummy than he should be, oh well.

For now i'll look forward to reading the fifth Dust spinoff, as far as I know that story will reveal Dust's true past, so I'm looking forward to it and who knows, maybe i'll come back and write another Dust story someday.

Well goodbye for now.


End file.
